Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he was studying US President Donald Trump and his rise to power.

When asked about his political aspirations, the former Defence Secretary and, according to some, a frontrunner for Presidency in 2020, said, he was still not sure about his entry into active politics.

“I don’t know. Donald Trump has become the US President I am studying him,” Rajapaksa said, during a meeting with the members of the Foreign Correspondents Association (FCA), in Colombo, yesterday.

Commenting on prosecution of alleged war crimes, the former Defence Secretary said the government should use the existing legal system to deal with the matter.

He also vehemently opposed the involvement of foreign judges in Sri Lanka’s accountability mechanism

When asked about the occurrence of war crimes, Rajapaksa, who played a pivotal role in the military assault on the LTTE eight years ago, said,” Some isolated incidents may have happened.”

Responding to allegations by former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka on ‘secret death squads’, the former Defence Secretary said it was “nothing but a joke”.

The former Army Commander, in his statement to the CID on former Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge said, Rajapaksa and Army intelligence chief Maj. General Kapila Hendawitharana were involved in Colombo’s security at the time of the journalist’s killing.