Donald Trump told the Daily Mail he will decline to receive intelligence briefings during his campaign to avoid being accused of leaking information. Via Axios:
Trump faces federal charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents. That scandal has further damaged his already strained relationship with the U.S. intelligence community.
In 2021, President Biden withdrew Trump’s access to classified briefings, which former presidents are typically entitled to, citing his predecessor’s “erratic behavior.”
U.S. intelligence agencies had planned to provide Trump with briefings once he secured the Republican nomination, per NBC News.“I don’t need that briefing,” he said. “They come in, they give you a briefing. And then two days later they leak it and then they say you leaked it.”
We don’t know whether they changed their minds and decided not to brief him after all, but it seems sensible, considering.
Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, said it would be a mistake to provide intelligence briefings to the former president.
“No prior presidential candidate has ever been under indictment for compromising classified information. That alone is reason to withhold intelligence briefings. There is no legitimate argument that denying the briefings would impair Trump’s campaign — he doesn’t understand what they would brief anyway,” Bolton said.
A strange world indeed, when I find myself agreeing with John Bolton.
