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President Trump on Tuesday implicitly blamed his predecessor, former President Obama, for the death of American college student Otto Warmbier, calling it "a total disgrace" that the young man did not get to return home from captivity in North Korea until last week.

"Frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the results would have been a lot different," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko. "He should have been brought home a long time ago."

Warmbier died Monday at an Ohio hospital five days after he was evacuated in a coma from North Korea, where he had been held for 17 months. Doctors said he had extensive loss of brain tissue a result, his family said in a statement, of the "awful torturous mistreatment" he received while imprisoned.

Trump did not name Obama, but hiscomments suggesting the Obama administration should have been able to secure Warmbier's return sooner echoed comments from Warmbier's father, Fred, at a news conference last week.

Warmbier said his family was advised by the Obama administration "to take a low profile" as they worked to bring him home from North Korea. After Trump took office, Warmbier said, he and his wife "decided the time for 'strategic patience' was over" using a term that had been used to describe the U.S. policy toward the rogue, nuclear-armed government in Pyongyang.

Warmbier said it was his understanding that, at Trump's direction, State Department officials "aggressively pursued" a resolution.

A spokesman for Obama said that during his administration, "we had no higher priority than securing the release of Americans detained overseas."

"North Koreas isolation posed unique challenges, but we worked through every avenue available to us including through the Swedish, our protecting power, as well as through our representatives in New York to secure the release of Mr. Warmbier," said Ned Price, a former National Security Council spokesman.

"These tireless efforts resulted in the release of at least 10 Americans from North Korean custody during the course of the Obama administration. It's painful that Mr. Warmbier was not among them, but our efforts on his behalf never ceased, even in the waning days of the administration," Price added.

David Axelrod, a longtime Obama advisor, tweeted that Trump's "not-so-veiled attack ... truly IS sad!"

Trump also told reporters:"It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto. It should never, ever be allowed to happen." But he did not suggest what response, if any, the United States would take. Other Americans remain hostage in North Korea.

UPDATE: In a Twitter message, Trump said the U.S. "again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim." But the tweet links to an Instagram video of his Oval Office remarks seeming to criticize the Obama administration for Warmbier'sultimate fate.

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Trump calls Warmbier's treatment a 'total disgrace,' suggesting Obama is to blame - Los Angeles Times

A majority of Americans view both former Presidents Obama and George W. Bush favorably, according to a Gallup survey released Tuesday.

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How do the presidents of our era compare with those who came before?

The poll found that 63 percent view Obama favorably and 59 percent view Bush in the same way, with Bush's favorability rating rising 7 percentage points over the last year. Just a few months after he left office in 2009, only 35 percent of the public viewed Bush favorably.

Obama's current rating mirrors the rating Gallup measured for him during the last leg of his presidency -- from November of last year through this past January. The poll found that Obama is viewed favorably among all major demographic groups -- whites, nonwhites, men, women people of all ages.

This comes as President Trump's approval rating takes a dip. A CBS News poll released Tuesday finds that 36 percent of the public approve of his job, down from 41 percent in late April.

The poll surveyed 1,009 adults between June 7 and 11 with a 4 percentage point margin of error.

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Poll: Obama, George W. Bush are popular post-presidency - CBS News

Former President George W. Bush (2-R), his wife Laura (R) stand with President Barack Obama (2-L) and First Lady Michelle Obama (L) as Bush departs from the U.S. Capitol after the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the U.S. on Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington, DC.PoolGetty Images

More than half of Americans hold favorable views of the United States' previous two presidents, Barack Obama and George W. Bush , according to Gallup .

Fifty-nine percent of Americans saw former President George W. Bush positively in June, a new post-presidential high for the leader whose favorability rating stood at just 35 percent in 2009.

The poll found that 63 percent of Americans felt favorably about former President Obama in June, five months after his farewell address . Americans' feelings differ starkly depending on their party politics, however, as only 22 percent of Republicans felt favorably towards Obama this month compared to 95 percent of Democrats.

The poll surveyed 1,009 adults across the country from June 7 to 11. It has a margin of error of +/- 4%.

Other presidents have seen their favorability ratings climb after vacating their seats behind the Resolute Desk. Former President Bill Clinton had a post-presidential rating of 39 percent in March, 2001, but it rose to 69 percent in 2012, according to Gallup.

President Trump's approval rating was 38% in the most recent Gallup tracking poll .

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Most Americans Still Like Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Poll Says - TIME

President Obama left him there. President Trump got him back. No need to overthink it.

Yes, murderous North Korean thugs killed 22-year-old Otto Warmbier after holding him for 17 months, but the last administration was willfully impotent in dealing with the regime.

Obamas official approach was dubbed strategic patience. It sounds like a term that wins the marketing meeting but has little effect in real life.

Kind of like leading from behind.

In the case of poor Warmbier, it meant that all hope was gone.

His parents were told to sit tight. When Otto was first taken, we were advised by the past administration to take a low profile while they worked to obtain his release, his father told the media. We did so without result.

Warmbiers father learned the hard way that results among progressives are less important than symbolism, intent and high-minded nuance: the kind of thinking that compelled Secretary of State John Kerry to pack up James Taylor and head to France after a 2015 terror attack.

Kerry said it was to share a big hug with Paris.

Unbelievable. There is no greater threat to the innocent than the deranged logic of liberals. It often disguises itself as compassion, usually spoken in a thoughtful tone, lyrically elegant at every turn.

But deadly and destructive and former President Obama was a master.

Those days are over. American voters began to feel rightfully unsafe under an administration that blamed unemployment and climate change for terrorism.

Donald Trumps prescription was less flowery: Bomb the (expletive) out of ISIS.

And so he did.

He also brought Otto Warmbier home by bringing him home. No lofty lectures to the American people. No cute turns of phrase. David Crosby was not mobilized.

Warmbiers family was able to spend a few days with their mortally injured son because there is a pragmatist in the White House.

Warmbiers father said it best: Do I think the past administration could have done more? I think the results speak for themselves.

Lets not ever forget what those villains did to that kid in North Korea and hopefully those responsible can be made to pay for it someday.

Meanwhile, we finally have a president determined to fix whats broken in this country. If his vast establishment opposition can put the interests of the country first, perhaps the results will speak for themselves.

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Shattuck: Differences in Trump, Obama efforts speak for themselves - Boston Herald

Great America Alliance, a pro-Trump non-profit group that previously ran ads attacking former FBI director James Comey during his testimony, is running an ad that quotes Obama narrating his autobiographical book "Dreams From My Father." The ad, however, does not mention that in the selected passage, Obama is actually quoting someone else who is speaking about the black community and Chicago politics before the early 1980s.

The ad begins with narration from conservative activist Autry Pruitt.

"Hi, my name is Autry Pruitt, a fellow black American working hard every day, just like you. It may seem out of season, but all of a sudden, Democratic politicians have started coming around again. We normally only see them every other November, swarming around and making promises to get our vote. But nothing ever changes for us, does it? Here's what President Barack Obama had to say about it."

Then Obama can be heard saying, "Plantation politics. Black people in the worst jobs. The worst housing. Police brutality rampant. But when the so-called black committeemen came around election time, we'd all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our souls for a Christmas turkey."

Pruitt then says, "Let's not sell out for another Christmas turkey. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Democrats keep taking our votes for granted."

In the book, Obama was quoting a barber telling him about the political system in Chicago before the city elected Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor, in 1983. Immediately after the Christmas turkey line in the book, Obama quotes the barber as saying, "White folks spitting in our faces, and we'd reward 'em with the vote."

The ad is running days before the special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district, with Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel facing off in a tight race to fill the House seat left vacant by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

Eric Beach, a co-chair of Great America Alliance, said the ad was an attempt to run something "outside the box" and that the group was trying to show "creatively" that Democrats have a history of failed promises.

Asked about the cut line, Beach said, "it's like any ad, those are his words and we want to use his words and I'll leave it at that."

A spokesman for former President Obama did not immediately return a comment request about the ad.

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A pro-Trump group is using Obama's voice out of context in radio ad for Georgia's special election - CNN