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WASHINGTON \u2013 National security adviser John Bolton Sunday distanced himself from President Trump\u2019s decision to side with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un<\/a>, who denied involvement in the death of US college student Otto Warmbier.<\/p>\n Asked if he believes the North Korea dictator as well, Bolton told CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union:\u201d \u201cThe president takes him at his word. My opinion doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t do that anymore,\u201d Bolton said. \u201cI give my advice to the president. I give my opinions to the president. He makes up his own mind. That\u2019s why he\u2019s president.\u201d \u201cGood for them,\u201d Bolton said.<\/p>\n Trump shocked Washington and upset the Warmbier family when he said he didn\u2019t condemn Kim for the death of Warmbier, the 22-year-old who was imprisoned in North Korea in 2016 and died the following year being returned to the US in a vegetative state.<\/p>\n \u201cHe tells me that he didn\u2019t know about it and I will take him at his word,\u201d Trump said during a news conference last week in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Bolton, a foreign policy hawk, said he\u2019s no longer a \u201cFox News contributor\u201d who will pontificate from the sidelines.<\/p>\n
Bolton brushed off the flurry of North Korean experts who believe Kim would have full knowledge of what happened to a high-profile US prisoner.<\/p>\n