“He can slip and say something.”

President Joe Biden said his predecessor should not receive intelligence briefings as he expressed fears that former President Donald Trump could reveal confidential information. Biden said “I don’t think so” when CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell asked him if Trump should receive intelligence briefings. And it is not just the Capitol riot, but “his erratic behavior, unrelated to the insurrection,” said Biden when asked why.

Asked to elaborate, Biden declined to go into details about what kind of damage Trump could do with confidential information. “I prefer not to speculate out loud”, Biden said. “I just think there is no need for him to have intelligence instructions. What is the value of giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does it have, other than the fact that he can slip and say something? “

Following Biden’s comments, the White House clarified that there was no formal policy change and that it would still be up to the intelligence community to decide whether Trump should receive a briefing, if he requests it. “The President was expressing his concern about former President Trump being given access to confidential information, but he also has deep confidence in his own intelligence team to make a decision on how to provide intelligence information if at some point former President Trump request a briefing, ”Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said. So far, Trump has not yet requested an instruction, according to CNN.

Former presidents have traditionally been allowed to request and receive intelligence briefings. And Biden is not the first to say that the tradition should not continue with Trump. Congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said last month that Trump “is not to be trusted” with confidential information. “There is no circumstance in which this president should receive another intelligence briefing – neither now, nor in the future,” said Schiff. Susan Gordon, who was Trump’s former deputy director of national intelligence from 2017 to 2019, wrote an article prior to Biden’s inauguration, arguing that it was a national security risk to hand over confidential information to the former president. “My recommendation, as a veteran of more than 30 years in the intelligence community, is not to provide him with a briefing after January 20,” wrote Gordon. “With this simple act – which is the exclusive prerogative of the new president – Joe Biden can mitigate one aspect of the potential national security risk posed by ordinary Donald Trump.”

In another part of the interview, Biden said he sees this as unlikely. The $ 15 federal minimum wage provision would end up in Covid-19’s aid package. “I did, but I don’t think it will survive,” said Biden. He promised that raising the minimum wage would be the subject of future legislation, although he implied that it would be done slowly. “I am prepared as President of the United States for a separate negotiation on the minimum wage to overcome what it is now”, Biden said. “No one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage and if you earn less than $ 15 an hour, you are living below the poverty wage.”