Secretary of State Mike Pompeo helped secure the release of three Americans who had been held hostage in North Korea, and escorted them back to the United States. At Joint Base Andrews, President Trump and VP Mike Pence met with the freed hostages as they arrived at about 2 a.m. A Washington Post reporter who was there wasn’t comfortable with how it was all handled:
My colleague who traveled to Pyongyang with Pompeo says reporters were not allowed to speak with freed Americans to respect privacy. But first thing Trump did on their arrival was trot them over to talk to media and listen to him boast about TV ratings. https://t.co/0Jp0wt9LMT
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) May 11, 2018
Full disclosure: I was there at Joint Base Andrews and I was shouting to the three Americans questions such as "how were you treated?" which Trump encouraged one, Kim Dong Chul to answer. He said he had to do hard labor but also got medical attention.
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) May 11, 2018
But I found the whole thing a bit uncomfortable. They guys were released 20 hours earlier after more than a year each in captivity. Pence later said one of the men hadn't seen daylight during detention. Then they get off plane to dozens of media, cameras, floodlights, etc.
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) May 11, 2018
It was disturbing that the freed hostages were asked to answer questions from the media, according to a member of the media who went there shouting questions?
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I found it disturbing that these three Americans were trotted around in front of media.
Oh by the way I was there screaming questions at them.
But yeah totally disturbing.
10/10 tweets here, Mr. Nakamura. https://t.co/3VWTQXPFYg
— Aaron (@TexasChaser) May 11, 2018
No matter what happened, a downside would have been found.
Media in this country would rather see America burned to the ground than have Trump succeed. https://t.co/nbgkNJ3cqx
— Angus T. Kirk (@angusparvo) May 11, 2018
Sorry your feelings are hurt, but it's not about you.
— JWF (@JammieWF) May 11, 2018
As if there was a way this could have been handled that the liberal media wouldn’t have criticized.
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