“I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
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Waterboarding was never brought back. On January 27, 2017, days into his term, Trump publicly ceded the decision to Defense Secretary James Mattis, who opposed the practice, and the administration never issued an executive order or sought legislation to revive enhanced interrogation beyond the Army Field Manual limits codified in 2015. His own CIA director, Gina Haspel, pledged at her May 9, 2018 confirmation hearing that the CIA would not restart a detention and interrogation program, and Trump appointed and retained her. The promise was voiced repeatedly during the campaign but never acted on in office.
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