--- title: Donald Trump Backs Off Torture Promises description: Now says he won't order military to break law with torture or killing of terrorists' families canonical: https://time.com/4248218/donald-trump-backs-off-promises-to-break-international-law/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-04T19:56:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:38:28.931Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Backs Off Torture Promises og:description: Now says he won't order military to break law with torture or killing of terrorists' families og:url: https://time.com/4248218/donald-trump-backs-off-promises-to-break-international-law/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd6881ddfcec2064/6988804fbc6cfc18da3dc044/gettyimages-513621484.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2139 og:image:height: 1203 og:image:alt: US-DETROIT-GOP-DEBATE-REPUBLICAN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Backs Off Torture Promises twitter:description: Now says he won't order military to break law with torture or killing of terrorists' families twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd6881ddfcec2064/6988804fbc6cfc18da3dc044/gettyimages-513621484.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Backs Off Promises to Break International Law > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 4, 2016 7:56 PM UTC  Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts to a question during the Republican Presidential Debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts to a question during the Republican Presidential Debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. Geoff Robins—AFP/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 4, 2016 7:56 PM UTC GOP frontrunner Donald Trump [revised his stance on torture and killing of families of terrorists](http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-reverses-his-stance-on-torture-1457116559) Friday, saying that if he becomes Commander in Chief, he [wouldn’t order the military to break international law](http://time.com/4244608/donald-trump-military-orders-illegal/). In a [statement](http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-reverses-his-stance-on-torture-1457116559) to the Wall Street Journal, Trump backed off his promises to torture suspected terrorists and kill terrorists’ families, both of which are prohibited by Geneva Convention, saying instead that he would “use every legal power that I have to stop these terrorist enemies.” “I do, however, understand that the United States is bound by laws and treaties and I will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters,” he said. “I will not order a military officer to disobey the law. It is clear that as president I will be bound by laws just like all Americans and I will meet those responsibilities.” The statement comes just hours after Trump [defended torture in the Republican Debate Thursday night, ](http://time.com/4247397/donald-trump-waterboarding-torture/)promising to “go stronger” on efforts to curb terrorism. “Can you imagine these people, these animals, over in the Middle East that chop off heads, sitting around talking and seeing that we’re having a hard problem with waterboarding?” he said Thursday night. “We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding.” When asked what he would do if the military refused to carry out his orders to torture or kill civilians, Trump said “They won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse, believe me.” Last week retired General Michael Hayden, former head of the NSA and CIA, said the military would likely refuse orders from the President that violate international law. “You are required not to follow an unlawful order,” Gen Hayden [told Bill Maher, ](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/02/27/former-cia-chief-says-military-could-defy-donald-trumps-orders/)noting that some of Trump’s ideas are “in violation of all the international laws of armed conflict.” Military officers are not required to follow orders they deem immoral or unlawful, and the [military code of ethics](http://time.com/4244608/donald-trump-military-orders-illegal/) encourages officers to disregard such orders. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4248218/donald-trump-backs-off-promises-to-break-international-law/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4248218/donald-trump-backs-off-promises-to-break-international-law/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Backs Off Promises to Break International Law","datePublished":"2016-03-04T19:56:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:38:28.931Z","description":"Now says he won't order military to break law with torture or killing of terrorists' families","url":"https://time.com/4248218/donald-trump-backs-off-promises-to-break-international-law/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Military","torture","Terrorism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd6881ddfcec2064/6988804fbc6cfc18da3dc044/gettyimages-513621484.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd6881ddfcec2064/6988804fbc6cfc18da3dc044/gettyimages-513621484.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-DETROIT-GOP-DEBATE-REPUBLICAN","caption":"US-DETROIT-GOP-DEBATE-REPUBLICAN","creditText":"Geoff Robins—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4248218/donald-trump-backs-off-promises-to-break-international-law/","name":"Donald Trump Backs Off Promises to Break International Law"}}]}] ```