WASHINGTON — After President-elect Trump said he was intelligent enough to not need daily briefings from the intelligence community, the White House reminded Trump that he “certainly first-hand understands how important the presentation of this intelligence information is.”
“Over the course of the Republican primary, the president-elect had criticized President Bush for not sufficiently protecting the country from 9/11. And even criticized him for not carefully listening to the presidential daily briefing that was later declassified that warned of 9/11,” press secretary Josh Earnest noted to reporters today.
In a February debate, Trump said, “The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe… And George Bush– by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn’t listen to the advice of his CIA.”
“In order to make good decisions, a president has to have access to good information. And by good information, I mean information that is accurate; that is up to date; that is presented clearly,” Earnest added. “And President Obama has benefited from that. The decisions that he’s made have benefited from that and the American people have benefited from that.”
The spokesman had been asked about Trump’s comments on Fox News Sunday, when host Chris Wallace asked about the president-elect listening to the daily intelligence only once a week.
“Well, I get it when I need it,” Trump replied. “First of all, these are very good people that are giving me the briefings. If something should change from this point, immediately call me. I’m available on one minute’s notice.”
“I don’t have to be told — you know, I’m like a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing and the same words every single day for the next eight years. It could be eight years — but eight years. I don’t need that,” he added, noting the generals he’s picked for his cabinet are being briefed as is Vice President-elect Pence. “But I don’t need to be told, Chris, the same thing every day, every morning, same words. ‘Sir, nothing has changed. Let’s go over it again.’ I don’t need that.”
Earnest said it’s “important for the intelligence community to not be in a position where these professionals who are dedicating their lives to the protection of the United States are not subjected to retribution just because the person who’s reading the briefing may not want to hear bad news.”
In August, an initial report from a congressional task force studying claims that intelligence from U.S. Central Command analysts on Iraq and the Islamic State was made more optimistic before presented to the administration found that a review process was influenced by “strongly negative reactions by senior leadership to bad news being reported in intelligence.”
Pressed further on whether Obama is concerned that Trump isn’t receiving the briefings, Earnest said the president “has benefited enormously and the country has benefited enormously from his ability to make good decisions based on good information, and the only way that he has been able to obtain that good information, and by good information, I mean up-to-date and accurate information, is because of the tireless efforts of the experts and patriots at the — in the intelligence community.”
“The president-elect is gonna have to, you know, develop his own routine and his own strategy for educating and equipping himself with the necessary knowledge to make good decisions for the country. And like every other American, I’m hoping he’ll do that.”
Michael Morrell, a former acting director and deputy director of the CIA, told CBS this morning that he thinks Trump “believes that the CIA is a political institution and he’s gonna have to learn that it’s not.”
“It is apolitical. It is there to tell him– call ’em like you see ’em. It is the most important institution to him in that regard. It’s gonna tell him how to think about the world in a way that is divorced of politics and divorced of policy. And he’s gonna have to start understanding that,” Morrell said.
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