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Jan 17, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Rep. Adam Schiff urges Biden to withhold intelligence briefings from Trump

Maria Arias

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is calling on President-elect Biden to deny intelligence briefings to President Trump once he leaves office, arguing that Trump has politicized intelligence and poses a national security risk.

What he's saying: "I don't think he can be trusted with it now, and in the future he certainly can't be trusted," Schiff told CBS' "Face the Nation," on Sunday.

  • The California lawmaker said he agrees with a recent op-ed by Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon, who served during the Trump administration, in which she called on Biden to break a longtime tradition and deny Trump routine briefings and access to classified information.

Schiff said he worries that U.S. allies don't trust Trump, and that some nations "probably started withholding information from us because they didn't trust the president would safeguard that information and protect their sources and methods. And that makes us less safe."

  • "We've seen this president politicize intelligence, and that's another risk to the country," Schiff added.

How it works: The decision on whether to provide Trump briefings "is solely the new president’s prerogative," Gordon writes in the op-ed.

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