Donovan Slack

USA TODAY

Donald Trump is taking on CIA Director John Brennan on torture, saying Brennan’s pledge not to allow waterboarding is “ridiculous.”

Brennan said on NBC News Sunday that he would not allow enhanced interrogation tactics, including waterboarding, even if a future president ordered it.

“I think his comments are ridiculous,” Trump said on Fox News Monday. “I mean, they chop off heads and they drown people in cages with 50 in a cage, in big, steel heavy cages, drop them right into the water drown people, and we can’t water-board and we can’t do anything,” Trump said.

“And you know we’re playing on different fields,’ he continued. “And we have a huge problem with ISIS, which we can’t beat, and the reason we can’t beat them is we won’t use strong tactics, whether it’s this or other things.”

He and fellow Republican presidential hopeful Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have both signaled they would not rule out bringing back tough interrogation techniques in the war against terrorism.

But Brennan said such measures would damage the CIA. "I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure," he told NBC.

Trump, however, suggested the United States needs to match the ruthlessness of its enemies.

“Can you imagine these ISIS people sitting around eating, and talking about (how) this country won’t allow waterboarding and they just chopped off 50 heads?” he asked.

He and Cruz are heading into an important primary next Tuesday in New York, where 95 delegates are at stake. That's the biggest haul until June 7, when California will award 172 delegates.

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