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Donald Trump after Brussels attacks: “I would do a lot more than waterboarding”

After attacks killed scores in Brussels on Tuesday morning, Donald Trump appeared to go even further than his call on banning all Muslims by saying he would “close up our borders.”

“I would close up our borders to people until we figure out what is going on. Look at Brussels, look at Paris, look at so many cities that were great cities,” Trump said on Fox News a few hours after news of the attacks was reported.

(Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)

Appearing later in the morning on NBC, Trump added that Belgian authorities had to “do whatever they have to do” to get information from Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was captured by police in Brussels over the weekend.

“Waterboarding would be fine and if they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding,” Trump continued, according to Bloomberg. “You have to get the information and you have to get it rapidly.”

Nobody has stepped forward to take credit for the killings, and the authorities have not identified a perpetrator. At least 34 people are dead and nearly 200 have been injured, according to Belgian authorities.

The location of the attacks. (Javier Zarracina/Vox)

It’s unclear if Trump was saying he would shut down all immigration and travel to the United States in the wake of the attacks.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, called in to the Today show shortly after Trump on Tuesday morning and said it would be ludicrous to close America’s borders.

“We’ve got to tighten our security,” Clinton said. “But it’s unrealistic to say we’re going to completely shut down our borders for everyone. That would stop commerce, for example, and that’s not in anybody’s interest.”

Donald Trump: “They could be ISIS”

Both of Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, posted statements to their Facebook pages after news surfaced of the attacks in Brussels.

Trump responded by calling in to Fox & Friends for an interview.

Trump called Brussels “a total disaster,” then pivoted to how members of the Islamic State could be entering the US through our immigration policy.

“They could be ISIS; they could be ISIS-related,” Trump said. “We just don’t learn.” As of this time, it’s still unclear who is behind the Brussels attacks.

Trump added: “We have to be smart in the United States when people come in. We’re taking in people without real documentation, we don’t know where they’re coming from, we don’t know … who they are.”

Clinton: We must “defeat terrorism and radical jihadism”

Clinton later released a full statement that said the terrorists’ “campaign of hate and fear will not succeed.” She didn’t criticize American leadership or call for an immediate change to policy, as both Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz did.

Here’s Clinton’s statement in full:

Terrorists have once again struck at the heart of Europe, but their campaign of hate and fear will not succeed. The people of Brussels, of Europe, and of the world will not be intimidated by these vicious killers. Today Americans stand in solidarity with our European allies.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and wounded, and all the people of Belgium. These terrorists seek to undermine the democratic values that are the foundation of our alliance and our way of life, but they will never succeed. Today’s attacks will only strengthen our resolve to stand together as allies and defeat terrorism and radical jihadism around the world.”


Donald Trump’s ideology of violence

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