President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE addressed the controversy about his comments regarding the death of U.S. student Otto Warmbier, saying his death after being imprisoned in North Korea made nuclear negotiations difficult.

“We got our great, great people, and that includes our beautiful, beautiful Otto. Otto Warmbier, whose parents I’ve gotten to know, who’s incredible,” Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

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“And I’m in such a horrible position, because in one way I have to negotiate, in the other way, I love Mr. and Mrs. Warmbier, and I love Otto. And it’s a very, very delicate balance. He was a special young man that to see what happened, so bad, it was so bad.”

Trump sparked bipartisan outrage when he said he believed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was unaware of Warmbier’s treatment.

The student was detained in North Korea and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly taking a poster while he was studying there in 2016. Warmbier was returned to the United States in a vegetative state in 2017 and died shortly after.

“He tells me he didn’t know about it, and I take him at his word,” Trump said Thursday during a denuclearization summit with Kim.

Republicans on Capitol Hill condemned the remark, expressing skepticism that the North Korean leader was unaware of the circumstances around a high-profile prisoner.

“I personally find that statement extremely hard to believe,” said Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsSenate GOP aims to confirm Trump court pick by Oct. 29: report The Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot MORE (R-Maine).

“We can’t be naive about what they did to Otto, about the brutal nature of the regime that would do this to an American citizen,” Sen. Rob Portman Robert (Rob) Jones PortmanMcConnell locks down key GOP votes in Supreme Court fight Romney undecided on authorizing subpoenas for GOP Obama-era probes Congress needs to prioritize government digital service delivery MORE (R-Ohio) warned. “I can’t tell you specifically who was knowledgeable of it but I would assume it goes straight to the top.”

Trump backtracked his statements Friday, saying he had been “misinterpreted” and that he “of course” holds North Korea accountable for the death.