Trump Says Obama Administration Failed to Free Three American Hostages Held in North Korea

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Fact Check of the Day

That’s false. Two were detained after President Trump took office.

President Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

As everybody is aware, the past Administration has long been asking for three hostages to be released from a North Korean Labor camp, but to no avail. Stay tuned!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, suggested on Thursday afternoon that Mr. Trump was including Otto Warmbier among the three hostages the president had referred to in his Twitter post.

Mr. Warmbier, an American college student, was detained in North Korea in January 2016. He was flown back to the United States last June in a vegetative state and died at a hospital in Ohio shortly after.

Ms. Sanders also said she “couldn’t confirm the validity” of reports about the hostages’ release. She was referring to a Thursday morning interview during which Rudolph W. Giuliani — who recently joined the president’s legal team — said three American hostages in North Korea would be released “today.”

Asked if Mr. Giuliani was authorized to discuss foreign policy on the Trump administration’s behalf, Ms. Sanders said: “Not that I’m aware of.”

Linda Qiu is a fact-check reporter, based in Washington. She came to the Times in 2017 from the fact-checking service PolitiFact.@ylindaqiu

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