Defense Secretary James Mattis should consider resigning if he can’t stop President Trump from reinstating torture, one veterans group said on Wednesday.
Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, a senior adviser to VoteVets, which helps get Democratic veterans elected to Congress and other state offices, said in a statement that it seemed Mattis had already explained to Trump why torture is not a good method of intelligence collection.
“It is disheartening to see that General Mattis has apparently lost that battle to pro-torture voices within the administration,” Eaton said. “I sincerely hope that General Mattis can still stop President Trump from going down this path. If he cannot, I trust General Mattis will seriously consider resigning in protest, in order to speak out against this action that will undoubtedly put our men and women in uniform in greater danger.”
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that it had received a draft executive order directing a review of interrogation policies as well as a look at whether CIA prisons outside the U.S. should be reopened. In response, members of Congress on both sides of the aisle slammed the administration, saying that it must follow the law, which prohibits torture.
But Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said Trump is not looking into either reopening the overseas prisons or reviving enhanced interrogation and said that the draft is not a White House document.
