President Trump suggested the Obama administration has blood on its hands for mishandling the efforts to secure the release of University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, who died Monday after a almost year-and-a-half imprisonment in North Korea.
Asked whether the president believes Warmbier was murdered by North Korea, Spicer said, "I'm not going to comment on whether or not his situation, how it was handled, until we have further information on that".
President Trump also made a similar comment, saying that the results would have been "different" if the student had been brought home earlier.
Whatever caused American college student Otto Warmbier's health to erode during his imprisonment in North Korea may remain a mystery - at least for a while longer.
There was no immediate word from the family about why relatives opted not to perform an autopsy, which may have shed more light on the cause of the neurological injuries Warmbier suffered in North Korea.
The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to take a propaganda poster while touring North Korea.
In a follow-up post, Donald Trump once again hit back at North Korea, while taking a light shot at China for not doing enough in the fight against Kim Jung un.
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"There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result", the statement continued. Trump announced Monday that Warmier has died. "There's no way for me to know that for sure".
Before his arrest, Warmbier seemed to be having a good time in North Korea.
The U.S. on Wednesday said that it and China has agreed to restrain companies from their two nations from doing businesses with North Korean entities now under United Nations sanction. "At least I know China tried!", Mr. Trump said in a tweet which came hours before the US and China were set to meet in Washington to talk about North Korea.
Yet, it's important to note that two of the three Americans now held in North Korea were detained there since Trump became president - one in April and a second in May.
If North Korea conducts a sixth nuclear test, it would mean that the pressure now imposed by China is not effective, USA officials said.
"Americans go there, they're often taken hostage, essentially, and the North uses them as bargaining chips", Schiff said.
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