Sean Hannity & Donald Trump Wonder How David Muir Would Feel About Waterboarding If His Child Was Kidnapped
Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity landed the second interview with Donald Trump since he was was sworn in as president, and it will air tonight. ABC News’ David Muir landed the first interview. This appears not to sit well with Hannity who, well into his sit-down, noted to POTUS, “Waterboarding, black sites came up in your interview last night.”
“And I was thinking, if I had an opportunity to speak with David Muir, I’d say, ‘OK, two guys go into your house. They kidnap your child. One guy gets away with your child. You tackle the other guy. That guy knows where your child is. … You don’t waterboard that guy?'”
Trump appeared to try to turn the conversation away from Muir, answering: “So waterboarding used to be used, because they said it really wasn’t torture. It was one step slightly below torture.”
“That’s why it was legal,” Hannity added.
“Torture is real torture, OK?” Trump concurred.
“I’m sure it’s not pleasant, but waterboarding was just short of torture,” Trump continued, though it was pretty clear that, in speaking to Hannity on the topic, he was preaching to the choir.
“All of a sudden, they make it torture,” Trump complained.
The two men continue to discuss the merits of waterboarding, as they saw it. Trump began to complain about how when “they go into a nightclub and they machine gun everybody down … they were not allowed to waterboard,” which, he said, “seems so foolish and so naive. But this is what we have to put up with. But, here’s the story –“
Suddenly, Hannity interrupted the president, pivoting back to Muir who, to recap, had landed the first sit-down interview with the newly sworn-in President Trump.
“I would ask David Muir, if they kidnapped your kid and you have one of the kidnappers, what would you do to get the location of your child?” Hannity said.
“Or, would you want him to talk in 48 hours from now, by being nice to him, OK?” Trump added, joining in on the ghoulish hypothetical.
“It’s over. It’s over at that point,” Hannity said, of this scene he and Trump were now writing.
“And, by that time, it’s too late,” added Trump. “So, I’m not into it.”
President Trump Tells ABC News’ David Muir He 'Absolutely' Thinks Waterboarding Works
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, President Donald Trump said he "absolutely" thinks waterboarding works and would consider reinstating it as an interrogation technique, depending on the advice of Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
"I will rely on Pompeo and Mattis and my group. And if they don't want to do, that's fine. If they do wanna do, then I will work toward that end. I want to do everything within the bounds of what you're allowed to do legally," Trump exclusively told "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir during an interview at the White House. "But do I feel it works? Absolutely, I feel it works."
Trump explained it's important to reconsider the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique because, he said, "we're not playing on an even field."
"When they're chopping off the heads of our people and other people. When they're chopping off the heads of people because they happen to be a Christian in the Middle East, when ISIS is doing things that nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about waterboarding? As far as I'm concerned, we have to fight fire with fire," he said.
"I'm going to go with what they say," Trump said of Mattis and Pompeo. "But I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question 'Does it work? Does torture work?' And the answer was 'Yes, absolutely.'"
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump vowed to bring back the use of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques.
"Not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding," Trump told Muir during the New Hampshire Republican primary debate, co-sponsored by ABC News, in February 2016.
But Trump's position on the use of waterboarding seems to differ from some of his Cabinet picks'. In an interview with The New York Times last year, Trump said he was "impressed" by a recommendation from Mattis, who at the time was under consideration for defense secretary.
"I said, what do you think of waterboarding? He said — I was surprised — he said, 'I've never found it to be useful.' He said, 'I've always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I do better with that than I do with torture.' And I was very impressed by that answer. I was surprised, because he's known as being, like, the toughest guy," Trump told the Times.
During his confirmation hearing to become CIA director, Pompeo was asked whether he would comply if Trump issued a presidential order calling for the reinstatement of enhanced interrogation techniques that fall outside the Army Field Manual.
"Absolutely not. Moreover, I can't imagine I would be asked that by the president-elect," Pompeo said. "There is no doubt in my mind about the limitations placed not only on the DOD but on the intelligence agency, and I'll always comply with the law."
Trump's comments today come amid reports of an administration draft order indicating that he is considering a review of terrorism interrogations and the potential reopening of CIA black site prisons outside the U.S.
Donald Trump: Waterboarding “Absolutely” Works
“When ISIS is doing things nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about water boarding? As far as I’m concerned we have to fight fire with fire,” Trump tells the ABC News anchor in his first sit-down interview as POTUS, which the network will air in a one-hour special tonight at 10 PM ET.
Trump claimed to have spoken with “people at the highest level of intelligence..within the past 24 hours” of Muir’s interview, “and asked them the question, ‘Does torture work?'”
“The answer was, ‘yes.’,” Trump told Muir.
POTUS said he would defer to his new Secretary of Defense James Mattis, CIA director Mike Pompeo and “my group” on the subject.
“If they don’t want to do that’s fine and if they do what to do I will work within that end….but, do I feel it works? Absolutely.”
“And I was thinking, if I had an opportunity to speak with David Muir, I’d say, ‘OK, two guys go into your house. They kidnap your child. One guy gets away with your child. You tackle the other guy. That guy knows where your child is. … You don’t waterboard that guy?'”
Trump appeared to try to turn the conversation away from Muir, answering: “So waterboarding used to be used, because they said it really wasn’t torture. It was one step slightly below torture.”
“That’s why it was legal,” Hannity added.
“Torture is real torture, OK?” Trump concurred.
“I’m sure it’s not pleasant, but waterboarding was just short of torture,” Trump continued, though it was pretty clear that, in speaking to Hannity on the topic, he was preaching to the choir.
“All of a sudden, they make it torture,” Trump complained.
The two men continue to discuss the merits of waterboarding, as they saw it. Trump began to complain about how when “they go into a nightclub and they machine gun everybody down … they were not allowed to waterboard,” which, he said, “seems so foolish and so naive. But this is what we have to put up with. But, here’s the story –“
Suddenly, Hannity interrupted the president, pivoting back to Muir who, to recap, had landed the first sit-down interview with the newly sworn-in President Trump.
“I would ask David Muir, if they kidnapped your kid and you have one of the kidnappers, what would you do to get the location of your child?” Hannity said.
“Or, would you want him to talk in 48 hours from now, by being nice to him, OK?” Trump added, joining in on the ghoulish hypothetical.
“It’s over. It’s over at that point,” Hannity said, of this scene he and Trump were now writing.
“And, by that time, it’s too late,” added Trump. “So, I’m not into it.”
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| Fox |
President Trump Tells ABC News’ David Muir He 'Absolutely' Thinks Waterboarding Works
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, President Donald Trump said he "absolutely" thinks waterboarding works and would consider reinstating it as an interrogation technique, depending on the advice of Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
"I will rely on Pompeo and Mattis and my group. And if they don't want to do, that's fine. If they do wanna do, then I will work toward that end. I want to do everything within the bounds of what you're allowed to do legally," Trump exclusively told "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir during an interview at the White House. "But do I feel it works? Absolutely, I feel it works."
Trump explained it's important to reconsider the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique because, he said, "we're not playing on an even field."
"When they're chopping off the heads of our people and other people. When they're chopping off the heads of people because they happen to be a Christian in the Middle East, when ISIS is doing things that nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about waterboarding? As far as I'm concerned, we have to fight fire with fire," he said.
"I'm going to go with what they say," Trump said of Mattis and Pompeo. "But I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question 'Does it work? Does torture work?' And the answer was 'Yes, absolutely.'"
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump vowed to bring back the use of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques.
"Not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding," Trump told Muir during the New Hampshire Republican primary debate, co-sponsored by ABC News, in February 2016.
But Trump's position on the use of waterboarding seems to differ from some of his Cabinet picks'. In an interview with The New York Times last year, Trump said he was "impressed" by a recommendation from Mattis, who at the time was under consideration for defense secretary.
"I said, what do you think of waterboarding? He said — I was surprised — he said, 'I've never found it to be useful.' He said, 'I've always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I do better with that than I do with torture.' And I was very impressed by that answer. I was surprised, because he's known as being, like, the toughest guy," Trump told the Times.
During his confirmation hearing to become CIA director, Pompeo was asked whether he would comply if Trump issued a presidential order calling for the reinstatement of enhanced interrogation techniques that fall outside the Army Field Manual.
"Absolutely not. Moreover, I can't imagine I would be asked that by the president-elect," Pompeo said. "There is no doubt in my mind about the limitations placed not only on the DOD but on the intelligence agency, and I'll always comply with the law."
Trump's comments today come amid reports of an administration draft order indicating that he is considering a review of terrorism interrogations and the potential reopening of CIA black site prisons outside the U.S.
Donald Trump: Waterboarding “Absolutely” Works
“When ISIS is doing things nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about water boarding? As far as I’m concerned we have to fight fire with fire,” Trump tells the ABC News anchor in his first sit-down interview as POTUS, which the network will air in a one-hour special tonight at 10 PM ET.
Trump claimed to have spoken with “people at the highest level of intelligence..within the past 24 hours” of Muir’s interview, “and asked them the question, ‘Does torture work?'”
“The answer was, ‘yes.’,” Trump told Muir.
POTUS said he would defer to his new Secretary of Defense James Mattis, CIA director Mike Pompeo and “my group” on the subject.
“If they don’t want to do that’s fine and if they do what to do I will work within that end….but, do I feel it works? Absolutely.”
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