--- description: Presidential hopeful Donald Trump says he would bring back waterboarding, which is widely considered a form of torture title: Donald Trump Says He Would Bring Back Waterboarding image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ff524551638e4fe/6988725fcd1bba316d6fe3b8/trump-donald.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump Says He Would Bring Back Waterboarding by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 22, 2015 3:16 PM CUT  Donald Trump speaks at Des Moines Area Community College Newton Campus in Newton, IO on Nov. 19, 2015. Donald Trump speaks at Des Moines Area Community College Newton Campus in Newton, IO on Nov. 19, 2015.Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 22, 2015 3:16 PM CUT Presidential hopeful Donald Trump said he would bring back waterboarding in an interview on Sunday. In [an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos,](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-donald-trump-ben-carson/story?id=35336008 "undefined") Trump said that he would bring back the practice, which is widely considered a form of torture. “I would bring it back, yes. I would bring it back. I think waterboarding is peanuts compared to what they’d do to us, what they’re doing to us, what they did to James Foley when they chopped off his head. That’s a whole different level and I would absolutely bring back interrogation and strong interrogation,” he said in the interview, referring to the American journalist who was decapitated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). Waterboarding was used to interrogate prisoners during the administration of George W. Bush, but was banned by the Obama administration in 2009. “You know, they don’t use waterboarding over there; they use chopping off people’s heads. They use drowning people,” Trump said. “I don’t know if you’ve seen with the cages where they put people in cages and they drown them in the ocean and they lift out the cage. And we’re talking about waterboarding. We have to be tough –” Trump also discussed having a database for refugees, and called candidate Jeb Bush a “weak person.” \[[_ABC_](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-donald-trump-ben-carson/story?id=35336008 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4123587/donald-trump-waterboarding/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4123587/donald-trump-waterboarding/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says He Would Bring Back Waterboarding","datePublished":"2015-11-22T15:16:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:49:53.809Z","description":"He also called Jeb Bush \"weak\"","url":"https://time.com/4123587/donald-trump-waterboarding/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Interview","jeb bush","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ff524551638e4fe/6988725fcd1bba316d6fe3b8/trump-donald.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ff524551638e4fe/6988725fcd1bba316d6fe3b8/trump-donald.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Town Hall In Iowa","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Town Hall In Iowa","creditText":"Scott Olson—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/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4123587/donald-trump-waterboarding/","name":"Donald Trump Says He Would Bring Back Waterboarding"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Politicians React to U.S. Policy on Syrian Refugees","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xRGMbKjA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-17T23:15:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xRGMbKjA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4123587/donald-trump-waterboarding/","duration":"PT1M57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4123587/donald-trump-waterboarding/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```