White House says Trump has not requested intelligence briefings
Psaki indicates that Biden would not be the one to determine whether Trump receives intelligence briefings
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has not indicated any interest in receiving intelligence briefings that he is privileged to, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
During a press conference Monday, Ms Psaki confirmed that Mr Trump had not sought access to intelligence briefings that former presidents are privy to after they leave office.
She said that intelligence officials would ultimately decide whether or not Mr Trump will receiving briefings if he does request them.
“He was expressing his concern about former President Trump receiving access to sensitive intelligence, but he also has deep trust in his own intelligence team to make a determination about how to provide intelligence information if at any point the former president requests a briefing,” Ms Psaki said, referencing Mr Biden.
Ms Psaki said she was not aware of any requests from Mr Trump to access the briefings and directed reporters to request further information from the Director of National Intelligence.
A spokesman for the ODNI said there was a process in place for handling intelligence requests from former presidents, and that it would follow those procedures in the event Mr Trump requested the information.
“The Intelligence Community has an established process for providing intelligence support to former US presidents, and we follow that process whenever a request is made,” the spokesman said.
Mr Biden previously said he did not believe Mr Trump should receive the briefings due to his "erratic behaviour".
Ms Psaki's comments seemed to indicate that Mr Biden would not be the one to determine whether or not Mr Trump gains access to the intelligence.
“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings. 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?” Mr Biden said.
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