AFPWASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said Friday that he would bar his predecessor, Donald Trump, from receiving intelligence briefings traditionally given to former presidents, saying that Trump could not be trusted because of his “erratic behavior” even before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The move was the first time that a former president had been cut out of the briefings, which are provided partly as a courtesy and partly for the moments when a sitting president reaches out for advice. Currently, the briefings are offered on a regular basis to Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Biden, speaking to Norah O’Donnell of CBS News, said Trump’s behavior worried him “unrelated to the insurrection” that gave rise to the second impeachment of Trump.
“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said.
“What value is giving him an intelligence briefing?” Biden added. “What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
The White House said this week that it had been reviewing whether the former president, whose impeachment trial in the Senate begins Tuesday, should receive the briefings. The chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, said last month, just before Biden’s inauguration, that Trump’s access to any classified information should be cut off.
“There is no circumstance in which this president should get another intelligence briefing, not now and not in the future,” said Schiff, D-Calif., who was the House manager for Trump’s first impeachment trial, a year ago.
The question of how Trump handles intelligence came up several times during his presidency. Shortly after he fired FBI Director James Comey in 2017, Trump told the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador about a highly classified piece of intelligence about the Islamic State group that came from Israel. The Israelis were outraged.
But there was a deeper worry about how Trump could use intelligence now that he has retreated to Mar-a-Lago, his club in Florida. The former president has talked openly about the possibility of running for the White House again, perhaps under the banner of a third party. The fear was that he would use, or twist, intelligence to fit his political agenda, something he was often accused of in office.
The move was the first time that a former president had been cut out of the briefings, which are provided partly as a courtesy and partly for the moments when a sitting president reaches out for advice. Currently, the briefings are offered on a regular basis to Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Biden, speaking to Norah O’Donnell of CBS News, said Trump’s behavior worried him “unrelated to the insurrection” that gave rise to the second impeachment of Trump.
“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said.
“What value is giving him an intelligence briefing?” Biden added. “What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
The White House said this week that it had been reviewing whether the former president, whose impeachment trial in the Senate begins Tuesday, should receive the briefings. The chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, said last month, just before Biden’s inauguration, that Trump’s access to any classified information should be cut off.
“There is no circumstance in which this president should get another intelligence briefing, not now and not in the future,” said Schiff, D-Calif., who was the House manager for Trump’s first impeachment trial, a year ago.
The question of how Trump handles intelligence came up several times during his presidency. Shortly after he fired FBI Director James Comey in 2017, Trump told the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador about a highly classified piece of intelligence about the Islamic State group that came from Israel. The Israelis were outraged.
But there was a deeper worry about how Trump could use intelligence now that he has retreated to Mar-a-Lago, his club in Florida. The former president has talked openly about the possibility of running for the White House again, perhaps under the banner of a third party. The fear was that he would use, or twist, intelligence to fit his political agenda, something he was often accused of in office.
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