Donald Trump said he would “go through a process” to amend a law that makes waterboarding a war crime.
“I’d go through a process and get it declassified, frankly … certainly waterboarding at a minimum,” Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday morning.
He added: “They’re chopping off heads of Christians and many other people in the Middle East. They’re chopping heads off, they laugh at us when they hear we’re not going to approve waterboarding and then they’ll have a James Foley and others where they cut off their heads.”
During Saturday night’s Republican debate in New Hampshire, just a few days prior to the state’s primary, Trump said if he were elected president he would bring back waterboarding and “bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
“You can say what you want, I have no doubt that it does work in terms of information and other things. … Waterboarding is fine with me,” Trump told Tapper.
During Saturday night’s Republican debate, Trump said he as president he would use tactics “a lot worse than waterboarding” to interrogate terror suspects. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also said he is open to waterboarding captured combatants.
Trump also downplayed his second place finish in Iowa in the caucuses, accusing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of stealing votes from him. He continued to push that he won Iowa and that finishing one delegate behind Cruz is not a loss.
Tapper also asked Trump if his caucuses performance makes New Hampshire a must win, and Trump deflected. “I want to win New Hampshire, but I don’t think I have to win it, no,” Trump replied.
