President Joe Biden has revealed that he will apparently be banning ex-President Donald Trump from receiving intelligence briefings now that he is out of office. Ordinarily, former presidents receive briefings even once out of power in order to prepare them for possible situations in which their input might be warranted. After all, the status of former president of the United States carries some weight. Nevertheless, Biden noted, Trump has displayed “erratic behavior,” and briefing him could carry a significant risk that would outweigh any potential benefits.
‘I just think that there is no need for [Trump] 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?’
As The New York Times reports, Biden’s “move was the first time that a former president had been cut out of the briefings, which are provided partly as a courtesy and partly for the moments when a sitting president reaches out for advice.” Before Biden’s announcement, other public figures like House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) expressed public support for the idea of blocking Trump from receiving intel briefings. As he bluntly put it:
‘There is no circumstance in which this president should get another intelligence briefing, not now and not in the future.’
Trump’s ineptitude led to repeated moments during his presidency when the security of intelligence was in jeopardy. At one point, Trump “took a photograph with his phone of a classified satellite image showing an explosion at a missile launchpad in Iran,” the Times explains, which abruptly revealed details of American surveillance capabilities. Eventually, Trump aides apparently excused their boss’s behavior by explaining that he didn’t actually read the intelligence reports, meaning that he missed markings noting particular information that was secret. Rather than reading, Trump received oral briefings from officials.
Going forward, the second Senate impeachment trial for Trump is set to soon begin. The exact number of Republican Senators who might vote to convict Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection is unclear, but the 67 votes that are required for a conviction seem unlikely. Recently, a full 45 Republican Senators voted in favor of a resolution opposing moving forward with the trial at all.
