During a 10 a.m. press conference on Thursday, Fred Warmbier, the father of freed North Korean hostage Otto Warmbier, thanked the Trump administration for aiding in the release of his son while voicing his displease with the Obama administration’s handling of the situation. In the coverage on MSNBC that followed, Warmbier’s comments were dismissed as “rhetoric” from “someone who isn’t necessarily politically sophisticated.”

Warmbier began by telling reporters: “When Otto was first taken, we were advised by the past administration to take a low profile, while they worked to obtain his release. We did so without result. Earlier this year, Cindy and I decided the time for strategic patience was over...” He added: “It is my understanding Ambassador Yun and his team, at the direction of the President, aggressively pursued resolution of the situation. They have our thanks for bringing Otto home.”

As he took questions minutes later, one reporter asked: “You thanked President Trump and you also said that the past administration didn’t do enough. So do you feel like then-President Obama should have been doing more to help?” Warmbier replied: “I think the results speak for themselves.”

Reacting to the press conference later in the hour, correspondent Hans Nichols worried:

...what struck me is the parallels between his rhetoric, Fred Warmbier’s, and the rhetoric of the Trump administration. The Trump administration has talked about the end of strategic patience being over....You heard Fred Warmbier make a similar comment....And at several times he went out of his way to directly credit President Trump as well as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with the release of his son.

The reporter was also concerned that Warmbier “walked right up towards criticizing the Obama administration.” Nichols even admonished his media colleagues for asking about such criticism: “...we're living in incredibly partisan times, and I think at some point some of the reporters there were trying to egg on someone who isn’t necessarily politically sophisticated.”

As result, Nichols advised viewers: “I wouldn’t make too much into sort of him crediting one administration and not another.”

The liberal so-called “journalists” at MSNBC instinctively believe it is unseemly to say a single bad word about Barack Obama – even if you’re a parent whose child was held captive by an enemy of the United States for a year on the former president’s watch.

Here are excerpts of Warmbier’s June 15 comments and the reaction from Nichols: