Ex-CIA chief: Trump asking for ‘a war crime’

Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden on Monday said Donald Trump is seeking “a war crime” from the military by calling for the assassination of terrorists’ families.

“There’s an edge,” he told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.” “There are limits beyond which you don’t go.

{mosads}“If a President Trump said to the Armed Forces, ‘Look, I think you’re being too conservative with regard to collateral damage because we’ve got to go beat these guys,’ that’s an honest discussion,” Hayden continued. “We have that one all the time.

“That’s not what he said. What he said is, ‘I’m going to order my Armed Forces to go kill the innocent.’ In essence, he’s telling 20 year-olds to go commit a war crime.”

Trump has suggested that military personnel should kill the relatives of terrorists, arguing it would do heavy damage to extremist organizations. He has also expressed support for waterboarding and other, more severe interrogation methods.

He softened his tone during a debate last week, saying he would obey international law as commander in chief.

“I will not order a military officer to disobey the law,” the billionaire said Thursday. “It is clear that as president that I will be bound to laws just like all Americans and I will be meet those responsibilities.”

Hayden criticized Trump’s rhetoric, saying he is disregarding the traditional rules of conduct.

“Here you have a major presidential candidate acting as if there are no limits, that the only thing that limits his behavior is what it is that he thinks he wants to do,” Hayden said.

“I want to understand what was the state of mind that allowed him in the first place that he would intentionally kill non-combatants, the families of terrorists?”