President Joe Biden has announced that former President Donald Trump will not receive intelligence briefings from the CIA under his administration. Biden made the comment on Friday in an interview with CBS News.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had told reporters Monday that Trump’s access to intelligence was “under review.”
“It’s something, obviously, that’s under review, but there was not a conclusion last I asked them about it, but I’m happy to follow up on it and see if there’s more to share,” Psaki said.
Former presidents typically continue to get intelligence briefings for as long as they require Secret Service protection. Sue Gordon, former principal deputy director of national intelligence, suggests that Trump, however, should not continue getting briefings.
“My recommendation, as a 30-plus-year veteran of the intelligence community, is not to provide him any briefings after Jan. 20,” Gordon wrote in an op-ed to The Washington Post. “With this simple act — which is solely the new president’s prerogative — Joe Biden can mitigate one aspect of the potential national security risk posed by Donald Trump, private citizen.”
Gordon’s concerns are mirrored by Adam Schiff (D-California), who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Schiff told CBS “there is no circumstance in which this president should get another intelligence briefing — not now, not in the future. I don’t think he can be trusted with it now, and in the future he certainly can’t be trusted.”
