President Biden will not give the final say on whether former President Donald Trump will continue to receive intelligence briefings, the White House spokeswoman said.
Biden, in a clip from an interview with CBS News released on Friday, said Trump should not reveal US secrets “because of his erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection”, referring to the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill .
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Saturday: “The president expressed his concern that former President Trump has access to confidential information, but he also has deep confidence in his own team intelligence to make a decision on how to provide intelligence information if former President Trump ever requests a briefing. ”
Asked by anchor Nora O’Donnell about his biggest fear of allowing Trump to have continued access to U.S. intelligence, Biden said he preferred not to “speculate out loud”
“I just think there is no need for him to have that intelligence briefing. 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? “Biden said.
Former presidents and other high-ranking officials often have access to classified information.