Trump Stopped Receiving Intel Briefings Entirely For the Last Month of His Presidency
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump leave the White House for Mar-a-Lago, December 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump stopped receiving intelligence briefings entirely a month before the end of his term, according to new information released by the CIA.
In an analysis of Trump’s briefings throughout his presidency, former CIA Inspector General John Helgerson described the 45th president’s tenure as a “unique challenge” for the intelligence community.
Context: The info is in a new chapter of John Helgerson’s book GETTING TO KNOW THE PRESIDENT—a useful source for my book THE PRESIDENT’S BOOK OF SECRETS—written for the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence.
It’s on the CIA website here:https://t.co/4bYQINUKlP
2/16
— David Priess (@DavidPriess) November 29, 2021
According to Helgerson’s report, which serves as a new chapter of his book Getting to Know the President, Trump had regular briefings in the transition period between the 2016 election and his inauguration.
He received regular briefings during his presidency as well, despite publicly attacking the U.S. intelligence community throughout. As his presidency matured, however, he took them less regularly, and ultimately only received an average of two briefings per week in the later years.
Then, after leaving for Mar-a-Lago for Christmas on Dec. 23, Trump stopped receiving briefings altogether.
“After the 2020 election, PDB briefings also continued for a period of time,” Helgerson wrote. “When Sanner briefed the president before he went to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays, he commented that he would see her later.”
“The briefings were to resume on 6 January,” Helgserson continued, “but none were scheduled after the attack on the Capitol.”
Read the full report here.
