--- ---  # Donald Trump Says It's 'Ridiculous' for CIA Chief to Reject Waterboarding 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 ImagesBrett 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. Donald Trump Says John Brennan Ridiculous Over Waterboarding ```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. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) *** local caption *** Donald Trump","creditText":"Brett Carlsen—2016 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/4289691/donald-trump-john-brennan-waterboarding/","name":"Donald Trump Says It's 'Ridiculous' for CIA Chief to Reject Waterboarding"}}]}] ```