--- title: Donald Trump Says John Brennan Ridiculous Over Waterboarding description: On waterboarding canonical: https://time.com/4289691/donald-trump-john-brennan-waterboarding/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-11T20:29:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:38:45.427Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Says John Brennan Ridiculous Over Waterboarding og:description: On waterboarding og:url: https://time.com/4289691/donald-trump-john-brennan-waterboarding/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85fa142602ffc783/69888ea1524fc05f33df7882/5202728781.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: 520272878(1) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Says John Brennan Ridiculous Over Waterboarding twitter:description: On waterboarding twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85fa142602ffc783/69888ea1524fc05f33df7882/5202728781.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says It's 'Ridiculous' for CIA Chief to Reject Waterboarding > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=81c70bd1-b791-43eb-8cc7-a4fce172f65d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 11, 2016 8:29 PM UTC  Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks before a capacity crowd at a rally for his campaign on April 10, 2016 in Rochester, New York. Brett Carlsen—2016 Getty Images Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks before a capacity crowd at a rally for his campaign on April 10, 2016 in Rochester, New York. Brett Carlsen—2016 Getty Images Brett Carlsen—2016 Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 11, 2016 8:29 PM UTC [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4288516/donald-trump-new-york-republican-primary-ivanka/) 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_](http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/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_](http://n). “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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4289691/donald-trump-john-brennan-waterboarding/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4289691/donald-trump-john-brennan-waterboarding/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says It's 'Ridiculous' for CIA Chief to Reject Waterboarding","datePublished":"2016-04-11T20:29:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:38:45.427Z","description":"Says ISIS does worse","url":"https://time.com/4289691/donald-trump-john-brennan-waterboarding/","keywords":["Donald Trump","torture","CIA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85fa142602ffc783/69888ea1524fc05f33df7882/5202728781.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85fa142602ffc783/69888ea1524fc05f33df7882/5202728781.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"520272878(1)","caption":"ROCHESTER, NEW YORK - APRIL 10: Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks before a capacity crowd at a rally for his campaign on April 10, 2016 in Rochester, New York. 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