Departing from Donald Trump’s campaign promise to bring back “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” Sen. Jeff Sessions acknowledged the 2015 law that Congressed passed that prohibits it and other forms of torture.

“Congress has taken an action now that makes it absolutely improper and illegal to use waterboarding or any other form of torture in the United by our military and by all our other departments and agencies,” Sessions said during his confirmation hearing as attorney general.

Sessions voted against the measure, which passed the Senate 78-21.

Sessions maintained that “there was a dispute” about whether waterboarding constituted torture, a claim that rights groups passionately dispute.

Sessions also argued that waterboarding was conducted by the intelligence agencies, not the military, and that the military’s “rules were maintained” — overlooking prisoner abuse at military bases in Bagram, Afghanistan, and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where prisoners were beaten, stripped naked, intimidated by dogs, and raped.