President Biden will not have the final say on whether former President Donald Trump continues to receive intelligence briefings, the White House spokeswoman said.
Biden said in a clip from an interview with CBS News released Friday that Trump should not have knowledge of US secrets “because of his erratic behavior unrelated to the uprising,” referring to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Saturday: “ The president expressed concern that former President Trump would have access to sensitive information, but he also has deep confidence in his own intelligence agency to determine how intelligence information if former President Trump requests a briefing at any point. ”
Asked by anchor Nora O’Donnell about his greatest fears of granting Trump access to US intelligence, Biden said he would rather not “speculate out loud.”
“I just don’t think he needs that intelligence briefing. What is the value of giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact that he slips and says something? Biden said.
Former presidents and other former senior officials usually retain access to classified information.