Politicians and diplomats across the spectrum expressed disbelief Thursday at President Trump’s assertion that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not know what happened to Otto Warmbier while the Wyoming, Ohio man was in Pyongyang’s custody.

The president made the observation about Kim at Thursday's close of his summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, with the North Korean leader. The meeting ended early without an agreement on the key goal, regulating that nation’s nuclear program.

At the concluding news conference, Trump was asked about Warmbier, and the president said he does not hold Kim responsible. "I don't believe he knew about it. He tells me that he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word."

The Warmbiers offered no comment Thursday.

Here's how political leaders reacted:

TheWarmbiers' Congressional representatives

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who represents the Cincinnati-area city in Congress, said, “Otto Warmbier’s imprisonment and death were heinous crimes at the hands of the brutal Kim Jong Un regime. We must never forget this regime’s despicable human rights record, even as we work to denuclearize the country.”

Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who accompanied Warmbier when he returned to Cincinnati in June 2017 from his North Korean captivity, said, “We must remember Otto, and we should never let North Korea off the hook for what they did to him.”

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who has introduced a package of economic sanctions against North Korea and named the legislation for Warmbier, said Trump should call the North Korean government to account.

“North Korea murdered Otto Warmbier and the president of the United States has a responsibility to make sure they face the consequences. Anything short of that is unacceptable,” Brown said. “The president of the United States is sending a message to dictators around the world that he believes autocrats when they lie or when they cover up, or when they justify policies that result in the deaths of human beings.”

Congressional leaders

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, saw a pattern in Trump’s statement Thursday in Hanoi.

“He seems to find warmth with authoritarian dictatorships and believes them and their word when they have records of violating international law and human rights than to believe our own intelligence community,” Menendez said.

Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican who represents Dayton in Congress and sits on the House intelligence committee, also pinned the blame on the North Korean leader. “Otto Warmbier’s life was taken by the abusive and oppressive regime in North Korea. As the head of that regime, Kim Jong Un bears full responsibility for Otto’s death.”

The remark was akin to Trump’s acceptance of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s denial of Russian meddling in American elections or the denial of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman that he was involved in the October death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.

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Former officeholders

On Thursday, former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote on Twitter: “And of course, Trump gives Kim Jong Un a pass. Just like MBS.”

After Trump’s appearance in Hanoi, Nikki Haley, formerly Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, took to Twitter to pin the blame squarely on Kim's government:

“Americans know the cruelty that was placed on Otto Warmbier by the North Korean regime. Our hearts are with the Warmbier family for their strength and courage. We will never forget Otto.”

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Trump might have been looking for a deal from Kim when he made the comments about Warmbier.

“But you can’t sell human rights down the river,” Kasich said on CNN.

Also on CNN, former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said he was "disappointed, to say the least," in Trump's remarks.

"This is reprehensible, what he just did. He gave cover ...to a leader who knew very well what was going on with Otto Warmbier,"

How Warmbier died

Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia, went to North Korea on a tourist vacation in late 2015 and was about to return in the first days of 2016 when he arrested and charged with stealing a poster from a Pyongyang hotel. After a show trial, a North Korean court sentenced Warmbier to 15 years hard labor.

Immediately after the sentencing, however, no further word was heard from Warmbier. His parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier of Wyoming, pushed the Obama administration to win his release, but all efforts failed. When Trump took office, he sent an envoy to North Korea to bring Warmbier home. The Un government released him as a humanitarian gesture.

But Warmbier returned to Cincinnati in a state doctors diagnosed as “unresponsive wakefulness” that left him blind, paralyzed, bedridden and unable to communicate. Tests showed his brain had been starved of oxygen. He died six days after his return to Cincinnati at 22.

In December, Warmbier’s parents won a $501 million judgment against the North Korean government for their son’s wrongful death by torture. At Thursday’s news conference, Trump said nothing about any U.S. efforts to help the family collect on the judgment. Instead he simply called them “an incredible family.”