I'm putting this in /v/conspiracy only because I don't have hard evidence, but I think this is not only plausible but I'd guess a 98% chance it's true.

Benghazi summary pertinent to this story

In the run up to the 2012 election, Obama/Hillary faced a foreign policy crisis. Their foreign policy resulted in the collapse of a country and the murder of 4 Americans. They made the political decision to try to cover their failure. Specifically Ben Rhoades and Hillary Clinton sent Susan Rice to the MSM provide a smoke screen that the deaths were not a result of American Foreign Policy, but rather an obscure youtube video.

Otto Warmbier's Capture and Death

The following is a transcpript from a press conference from Otto's father:

FRED WARMBIER: When Otto was first taken, we were advised by the past administration [Obama] to take a low profile while they worked to obtain his release. We did so without result. Earlier this year, Cindy and I decided the time for strategic patience was over.

We made a few media appearances and traveled to Washington to meet with [Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Korea and Japan] Ambassador Joe Yun at the State Department.

It is my understanding that Ambassador Yun and his team, at the direction of the president [Trump] aggressively pursued resolution of the situation.

They have our thanks for bringing him home.

...

The question is, 'Do I think the past administration [Obama] could have done more?' I think the results speak for themselves.

In the run up to the 2016 election, Obama/Hillary faced a foreign policy crisis. Their foreign policy resulted in loss of respect for America and the capture and imprisonment of an American citizen. They made the political decision to try to cover their failure. Specifically Obama told the captured American's family to "take a low profile" thereby keeping the capture out of the press and not allowing political rivals to use it as campaign issue.