White House to leave any intelligence requests from Trump to intel community
(CNN)The Biden White House says the intelligence community will review any incoming requests for intelligence briefings from former President Donald Trump, as has been customary for former presidents, though he has not yet made any.
In general, requests from a former President are supported by officials.
"The
intelligence community supports requests for intelligence briefings by
former presidents and will review any incoming requests, as they always
have," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told CNN on Thursday.
A
senior administration official told CNN the former president has not
submitted any requests at this point. There are many ways intelligence
can be presented, the official said, something the intelligence
community would formulate should any request come in.
Some detractors have been concerned about Trump's potential access to classified information while he's out of office.
Former Trump principal deputy director of national intelligence Sue Gordon wrote a Washington Post op-ed
following the insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington that the
former president "might be unusually vulnerable to bad actors with ill
intent" once he's out of office.
And ahead of Inauguration Day, Ron Klain, who is now President Joe Biden's chief of staff, wouldn't rule out barring Trump from intelligence briefings.
Throughout his time in office, Trump often expressed distrust and, sometimes, disdain for the intelligence community.
Trump's resistance to intelligence warnings about Russia led his national security team to brief him less often
about related threats. But he often did not read the briefing book
compiled by national security briefers, leaving him unaware of major
intelligence threats around the world.
Trump also repeatedly sided with Russia
or gave the Russian government the benefit of the doubt despite clear
intelligence indicating nefarious activity against the US or partners
around the globe.
Trump fired
the inspector general of the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson,
after Atkinson notified Congress of the anonymous whistleblower
complaint. The complaint alleged Trump sought dirt on Biden and withheld
US security aid from Ukraine -- a complaint that eventually led to
Trump's impeachment. And then-President Trump installed loyalists into top intel roles.
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