Donald Trump Says It’s ‘Ridiculous’ for CIA Chief to Reject Waterboarding

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Donald Trump said Monday it was “ridiculous” for CIA Director John Brennan to declare in a recent interview he would not use enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding.

“I think his comments are ridiculous,” Trump said Monday on Fox and Friends. “I mean, they chop off heads and they drown people in cages with 50 in a cage, in big, steel heavy cages, drop them right into the water drown people, and we can’t water-board and we can’t do anything,” Trump said.

Trump has argued for the use of waterboarding, which many argue is ineffective and is illegal under international and domestic law, in U.S. efforts to combat terrorists from the Islamic State.

“We have a huge problem with ISIS, which we can’t beat, and the reason we can’t beat them is we won’t use strong tactics, whether it’s this or other things,” Trump said.

Brennan spoke about the issue of waterboarding on Sunday with NBC News.

“I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I’ve heard banded about because this institution needs to endure,” Brennan said.

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