The President of the United States defended this Friday that Donald Trump, his predecessor in office, should not have access to US intelligence services’ briefings, with secret and inside information, despite presidents leaving office usually have access to this type of information.
Joe Biden justified the decision to ban Trump from accessing intelligence services because of his “erratic behavior”, without directly associating it with the Washington incidents that took place last January 6. Next week, Donald Trump will face his second impeachment trial, following the violent acts that took place on Capitol Hill.
In an interview with CBS News, Joe Biden said that although he did not want to “speculate out loud”, he was concerned that Trump was receiving secret information from the intelligence services and was considered privileged. “I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings. What is the point of giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does it have, other than the fact that he can ‘slip’ and reveal anything?”, questioned Joe Biden
According to CBS, Trump has had a “stormy relationship” with US intelligence services throughout his four years in office and access to briefings is questioned by both Democrats and former Republican officials.
The issue of blocking Trump’s access to sensitive information was already being considered by the White House. In January, Susan Gordan, a former deputy director of US intelligence services, had urged Joe Biden, via the Washington Post, to put a brake on Donald Trump, stressing that the former security profile president is “scary” and that “any former president is, by definition, a target and presents some risks, but former president Trump, even before the events [do Capitólio], can be exceptionally vulnerable to agents with bad intentions “.
Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had also asked Joe Biden to ban Trump from accessing classified information after the former president’s term ended in January. According to Adam Schiff, “there is no circumstance in which this president should receive another intelligence briefing, I do not think he is reliable now or in the future”.
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