Trump says U.S. did not pay any of the $2 million that North Korea sought for Otto Warmbier’s care

President Trump said Friday that the United States did not pay any money to North Korea, which had issued a $2 million bill for the hospice care of American Otto Warmbier, the comatose University of Virginia student sent home from Pyongyang in 2017.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else,” Trump said in a morning tweet in which he suggested he has taken a different approach to hostage negotiations than his predecessor.

Trump reiterated the point two hours later as he spoke to reporters outside the White House.

“We did not pay money for our great Otto,” Trump said. “I haven’t paid money for any hostage. … We don’t pay money for hostages.”

The Washington Post reported Thursday that North Korea presented an invoice for Warmbier’s care in an extraordinarily brazen act even for a regime known for its aggressive tactics.

The main U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions passed down from Trump, according to two people familiar with the situation. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The bill went to the Treasury Department, where it remained — unpaid — throughout 2017, the people said.