Engel Likens Rodman’s North Korea Trip to Taking ‘Hitler to Lunch’ (Video)

By JM Rieger

Posted January 8, 2014 at 11:47am

Turns out members of Congress are just as irked by Dennis Rodman’s “basketball diplomacy” as everyone else.

</p> <p>Rep. Eliot L. Engel criticized the former NBA star Tuesday on the House floor.</p> <p>“Bringing American basketball to North Korea … and sitting down with a dictator like Mr. Kim would be the equivalent of taking Adolf Hitler to lunch,” the New York Democrat said. “We shouldn’t be clicking glasses with him or playing basketball with this dictator, we should be demanding that an American citizen who committed no crime be released.”</p> <p>Rodman, who first visited North Korea last February, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2014/01/08/nr-rodman-sings-happy-birthday.cnn-ap.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sang “Happy Birthday”</a> to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday. Engel was referring to Kenneth Bae at the end of his statement, an American citizen who has been held in North Korea for more than a year.</p><script id="5e2bd50d2be64735bd9c6970a280aeab">(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=9484058d-cb86-4c6b-b476-f5e62bd11798&cid=69ef7590-f88b-4a7b-b1ad-bbee64894f4f'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "9484058d-cb86-4c6b-b476-f5e62bd11798" }).render("5e2bd50d2be64735bd9c6970a280aeab"); });</script></p> <p></body>