- Joe Biden is considering blocking Donald Trump’s access to intelligence briefings.
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Trump’s access to intelligence briefings is “under review.”
- The comments follow warnings from former officials that Trump may be abusing his access to classified information.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
President Joe Biden is considering blocking Donald Trump’s access to intelligence briefings, following calls from Trump’s own former national security adviser to deprive him of the courtesy usually afforded to former presidents.
When asked whether Trump would continue to have access to intelligence briefings, White House press secretary Jen Psaki replied Monday, “Clearly, it is something that is under review,” the Independent reported.
She added that “no determinations” had been made of the decision.
The move comes amid concerns that Trump, who faces a second impeachment trial next week, could misuse his access to classified information for profit or other purposes.
Susan Gordon, who was the chief deputy director of the national intelligence agency from 2017 to 2019, called for Trump’s access to intelligence to be revoked in January.
Gordon, who gave Trump intelligence briefings, said in an op-ed for the Washington Post that Trump had expressed his commitment to continuing his involvement in national politics after leaving office, noting that he had “significant business complications involving foreign entities. were involved. . “
“My recommendation, as a 30-plus-year veteran of the intelligence community, is not to give him any briefings,” said Gordon, adding that Trump “might be unusually vulnerable to bad actors with bad intentions.”
“ It is not clear whether he understands the conduct to which he has been exposed, the reasons why the knowledge he has acquired should be protected from disclosure, or the intentions and capabilities of opponents and competitors who will use all means to pursue their interests in the at our expense, ”she wrote.
Former FBI Director James Comey and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff have also called for Trump’s access to briefings to be revoked.
Schiff, who led the first impeachment trial against Trump, said the former president “could not be trusted” with classified information.
“There is no circumstance in which this president should receive another intelligence briefing – not now, not in the future,” he told CBS News in January.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017 when he was conducting an investigation into the Trump campaign’s involvement with Russian contacts, said in a January interview with ABC News that intelligence briefings are usually given to former presidents so they can contribute accurately to public discussions. but said Trump was a “lying demagogue you can’t trust”.
Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, said before the president was inaugurated that the president would decide whether to revoke Trump’s entry on the advice of his security advisers.
“We will definitely look for a recommendation from the intelligence professionals in the Biden government … and we will follow up on that recommendation,” he told CNN, per Reuters.