Biden Tells CBS’ Norah O’Donnell That Trump Shouldn’t Get Intel Briefings Anymore, Citing His ‘Erratic Behavior’
President Joe Biden told CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell that Donald Trump should no longer receive classified intelligence briefings now that he’s no longer president, citing his “erratic behavior.”
During the new president’s first network TV interview, Biden directly answered a question about whether or not the intelligence community should keep briefing Trump. The practice of extending these briefings beyond a president’s official term of office is not stipulated by any government statute, but is a courtesy that all previous ex-presidents have been granted in some form.
Turning from the debate over Trump’s upcoming Senate impeachment trial for inciting insurrection, O’Donnell asked: “Let me ask you, then, something you do have oversight of as president. Should former President Trump still receive intelligence briefings?”
“I think not,” Biden answered.
“Why not?”
“Because of his erratic behavior, unrelated to the insurrection,” Biden explained.
Throughout his presidency, Trump enjoyed a prickly relationship with the U.S. intelligence community and often displayed a stunningly cavalier attitude toward classified information.
Most famously, Trump revealed intelligence secrets to Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting just months into his presidency. He also routinely skipped reading his daily intelligence reports, baselessly dismissed their findings, and, in the final few months, all but stopped receiving them after embarrassing news broke that he’d ignored intel reports of alleged Russian bounties placed on U.S. Servicemembers in Afghanistan. In light of that dubious track record, House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) recommended two weeks ago that the intelligence briefings for Trump no longer continue after he leaves office, because he “can’t be trusted.”
“You’ve called him an existential threat. You’ve called him dangerous. You’ve called him reckless,” O’Donnell continued.
“Yeah, I have, and I believe it,” Biden replied.
“What’s your worst fear if he continues to get these intelligence briefings?”
“I’d rather not speculate out loud,” Biden said. “I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefing. What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?
Watch the video above, via CBS News.
