Otto Warmbier becomes issue in New Hampshire GOP presidential primary

Otto Warmbier is a campaign issue in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary.

As the New Hampshire primary neared on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley sparred over Warmbier, the 22-year-old college student from the Cincinnati area who died in 2017 after being imprisoned in North Korea.

Trump on Monday, in a statement, trumpeted his efforts to bring Warmbier back home to the city of Wyoming, a suburban town 12 miles north of downtown Cincinnati.

"I worked tirelessly to get him out and I did get him out, along with the other hostages," Trump wrote in the statement he posted to his social media network, Truth Social, and then sent out to the media. "By the time I became president, he was in seriously bad condition, in a coma for almost a year, and when I got him out, he was close to death, but I brought him home."

Trump's statement came in response to a three-minute ad from Haley that featured Warmbier's mother, Cindy Warmbier. Cindy Warmbier a year earlier spoke at Haley's campaign launch. The words in the ad are from that speech, recounting what happened to her son and giving Haley credit for supporting the family through the ordeal.

In releasing the ad, Haley’s campaign noted that while Trump “played an important role" in bringing Warmbier back, he overshadowed the accomplishment by speaking positively about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and publicly absolving him of wrongdoing that led to Warmbier’s death. Trump said in 2019 that he took Kim “at his word” that Kim was unaware of the alleged mistreatment of the American student.

It isn't clear what the Warmbiers make of this back-and-forth between the Republican presidential candidates. A message to the family wasn't immediately returned Monday night. Cindy Warmbier and her husband, Fred Warmbier, have had an ambivalent relationship with Trump. They credited him for bringing their son home but criticized his praise of the North Korean leader.

A year ago, after Haley's campaign launch, Cindy Warmbier said her support for Haley wasn't a statement against Trump. Both Cindy and Fred Warmbier said they're still grateful to Trump "for bringing Otto home."

"It wasn’t either/or, really," Cindy Warmbier told The Enquirer from South Carolina. "I just really bonded with Ambassador Haley. She’s my friend and mentor. When she asked, it was like, of course."

Associated Press reporter Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Donald Trump and Nikki Haley spar over Otto Warmbier