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There is no direct evidence of his torture, nor of his lack of torture by other forms. Why did North Korea say that his brain damage was caused by botulism and a bad reaction to a sleeping pill? Otto's doctors said it was most likely cardiopulmonary arrest. His doctor's said we will never know what happened to him exactly but something nefarious seems likely given North Korea's history, and the lies about the cause of brain death. Not to mention, it's easy to envision forms of torture that might cause a cardiopulmonary event(waterboarding, drowning, suffocation, etc).

To me it's really surprising that an omission of correcting the perception that Otto was beaten on the part of the Trump administration is evidence Trump used the situation or that North Korea did not violate any of Otto's human rights.

The author is claiming that the Trump administration "encouraged the narrative" that Otto Warmbier was beaten but it does not really explain why very precisely except to imply that Trump may have used Otto's parents to look better himself. There isn't any evidence he did this, it is just speculation by the author. I can't find any quote from the Trump administration saying this except for "intelligence reports" from before Otto's return that even officials state the reports about beatings were from third or fourth hand sources. Further, North Korea's official explanation of Otto's brain trauma, botulism and a sleeping pill reaction, are dubious medical claims and can therefore be rightly doubted. 6 days after Otto's return, a press conference was held from Otto's doctor about his condition and reports about torture could not be confirmed or denied except to state that North Korea's explanation was unlikely. This would make it very hard to perpetuate a narrative that Warmbier was, without a doubt, beaten. I think it is an extremely tedious point to suggest that Trump was deliberately misleading the public about Otto's treatment in order to make himself look better.