Sen. John McCain lashed out at Donald Trump's renewed call for torture in the wake of the latest terror attack — calling it anathema to what America is all about.
In a speech to the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, the Arizona Republican — and former POW in Vietnam — also asserted torture "doesn't work."
"It's not the United States of America," he said to applause in the Wednesday speech,
NBC News reports.
"It's not what we are all about. It's not what we are."
Trump has been sounding the call for interrogation techniques including
waterboarding throughout his campaign, and reiterated that stance on Tuesday in the wake of the terror strike at an airport in Istanbul that has killed 43 civilians.
"I like it a lot. I don't think it's tough enough," he said on the stump in Ohio, calling the tactic "peanuts compared to many alternatives," NBC News reports.
McCain noted waterboarding is considered a war crime by the Geneva conventions — and was banned by the Bush administration — "But perhaps more important than that, if you're not into academics and history is it doesn't work ... Because if you inflict enough pain on someone they will tell you whatever they think you want to hear."
There's been no love lost between Trump and McCain since the GOP presumptive nominee, early in his campaign, said the senator was
"not a war hero" for having spent five years as a prisoner of war.
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