Donald Trump reiterated in Thursday’s Fox News GOP debate that he had no issue with waterboarding — a practice regarded by many legal and military experts as torture — and that he favored going “tougher than waterboarding.”
“They then came to me, what do you think of waterboarding? I said it’s fine. If we want to go stronger, I’d go stronger, too,” Trump said. “Frankly, that’s the way I feel. 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? We should go for waterboarding and tougher than waterboarding.”
The statement came after a question about a letter signed by 100 military leaders saying they would not support Trump, and an assertion by former CIA Director Michael Hayden that the military may refuse to follow orders that were illegal.
“They won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse me. Believe me. They’re illegal,” Trump said.
