Politics Trump Says No to Daily Redundant Intel Briefings Because He's a 'Smart Person'

© KHALIL ASHAWI Rebel fighters gather during their advance towards the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab, northern Syria October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly receiving a detailed intelligence briefing only once a week, instead of daily, said in an interview Sunday that he views the regular assessment of threats facing the United States as repetitive and unnecessary.

The President’s Daily Brief, or PDB, is created daily by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which synthesizes information from multiple elements of the Intelligence Community, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and others. The object of the report is to provide the president with the most up-to-date assessment available of multiple threats and opportunities facing the country.

Putin just called Trump ‘smart,’ but it’s not entirely a compliment

The Russian leader said the president-elect should ‘quite quickly’ understand his new responsibilities.“To the extent that he was able to achieve success in business, this shows that he’s a smart person,” Putin said in snippets of an interview with broadcaster NTV set to be aired in full Sunday evening. “And if he’s a smart person, that means that he will totally and quite quickly understand the different level of his responsibility [as a statesman]. We presume that he will act based on this position.

Trump Says No to Daily Redundant Intel Briefings Because He ' s a ' Smart Person '. The Fiscal Times. Trump on Russia meddling in US election: 'I don't believe it'. AFP. Sen.

Trump Explains Why He Rejects Daily Intelligence Briefings : “I’m, Like, a Smart Person ”. President-Elect Donald Trump dismissed concerns that he is rejecting the presidential intelligence briefings every day, saying he really doesn’t think they’re necessary. “You know, I'm, like, a smart person . I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.

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Asked by host Chris Wallace why he has chosen not to receive PDB on a daily basis, Trump replied, “I get it when I need it.”

He continued, “First of all, these are very good people that are giving me the briefings, and I say, ‘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 in the same words every single day for the next eight years...I don’t need that.”

He said that his vice president-elect, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is receiving daily briefings, and added, “My generals” are also receiving the information.

However, he repeated that he sees no point in receiving the information himself each day. At one point in the interview, he dismissively impersonated an intelligence official providing the report:

Trump gets one presidential intelligence briefing a week - sources

Trump gets one presidential intelligence briefing a week - sourcesAlthough they are not required to, presidents-elect have in the past generally welcomed the opportunity to receive the President's Daily Brief (PDB), the most highly classified and closely held document in the government, on a regular basis.

Trump only attends one briefing per week but he can explain all of that. Trump says he ’ s “ smart ” and doesn’t “need that.” The outrage from the right was deafening then but they are strangely quiet now that Trump is the president-elect. In contrast to Obama, Trump suggested that it isn’t necessary for him to receive the presidential briefings daily . “I’m, like, a smart person ,” Trump said .

Mr. Trump , who has received the briefing sparingly as president-elect, said that it was often repetitive and that he would take it “when I need it.” He said his vice president, Mike Pence, would receive the daily briefing . “You know, I’m, like, a smart person ,” he said .

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“‘Sir, nothing has changed. Let’s go over it again,’” Trump said. “I don’t need that.”

The interview will do nothing to bridge the chasm between Trump and the Intelligence Community, which only widened this weekend.

On Friday, reports surfaced that agencies monitoring foreign intrusions into U.S. computer networks believe that Russian-backed hackers penetrated the Republican National Committee, but did not publicly disclose any of the information they may have obtained. (The RNC strenuously denies that it was actually hacked.)

The full Intelligence Community stated publicly in September that they had come to the joint conclusion that hacks into the Democratic National Committee and into the email accounts of prominent Democrats, including John Podesta, the chairman of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, had been executed on the orders of the Kremlin. The data stolen in those hacks was released during the campaign, over a period of months, creating almost daily mini-crises that the Clinton campaign was forced to address.

Intelligence community worries about Trump’s refusal to hear briefings

<p>President-elect Donald Trump’s weekend statement that he did not plan to receive a daily intelligence briefing has exploded into controversy.</p>Former U.S. intelligence officers, already concerned about some of Trump’s remarks disparaging their work, warned that skipping the daily briefing could leave Trump slow to recognize developing crises, though they noted that the daily briefing is not the only channel for intelligence to filter up to key players in the White House.

President-elect Donald Trump declared Sunday that he doesn't need daily intelligence briefings because he ' s " a smart person ." Among other things, Trump mocked American intelligence agencies in response to Friday' s report that Russia interfered in the election to help him win. "I get it when I need it," Trump said of intelligence reports. "I don't have to be told — you know, I'm like, a smart person .

Donald Trump says he doesn't need daily security briefings as president because he ' s "like, a smart person ." In case you're wondering, every president since President Harry S . Truman has received a daily briefing on the security threats facing the United States.

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The possibility that Russian hackers had access to both RNC and DNC files, but only released information on the Democrats, has created suspicion among Democrats that the Kremlin’s effort was not simply meant to undermine the democratic process, but to actively help Donald Trump win the presidency.

That idea was bolstered by a report from The New York Times over the weekend in which unnamed sources claimed that was exactly the conclusion that the CIA had reached. Later stories indicated that the FBI is not willing to go as far as declaring that the motive for the attacks is clear, but others described it as the “consensus opinion” among intelligence agencies.

Trump and his surrogates had already questioned the integrity of the Intelligence Community on multiple occasions after the original reports about Russian hacking surfaced. Trump has repeatedly said that he doesn’t believe Russia directed the hacking of the DNC and that he thinks the claim that they did is politically motivated.

Trump’s hostility to intelligence community enters the spotlight

Donald Trump’s hostile approach to the critically important relationship between the White House and the U.S. intelligence community is unnerving officials and national security scholars. The president-elect has signaled that he intends to treat intelligence with little attention to precedent.For weeks following the election, he declined to receive many of the daily intelligence briefings that are customarily given to the president-elect, arguing that he was "a smart person" who didn't "need to hear the same thing every day.

On Thursday, Reuters reported that Trump is receiving the President’ s Daily Brief (PDB) once a week, even though it’ s literally called a “ daily brief” and that’ s absolutely what it’ s meant to be (of course, there’ s no law saying the President-elect has to read it). Trump explained to Wallace on Sunday that he doesn’t “have to be told” what’ s in all these pesky briefings because he ’ s “you know, like, a smart person .”

Trump on Fox News Sunday says he doesn't need daily intelligence briefings as POTUS because he ' s " smart " pic.twitter.com/OUiKqj8qjV. — Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) December 11, 2016.

After the most recent reports surfaced, his transition team went a step further, dismissing the findings in a statement that read, in part, “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” The reference was to one of the Intelligence Community’s greatest perceived failures -- the finding that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, which became the casus belli for the invasion of Iraq.

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Reince Priebus, former head of the Republican National Committee, and currently Trump’s choice as Chief of Staff, appeared on both ABC’s This Week and NBC’s Meet the Press and unequivocally claimed that The New York Times report about hacking the RNC was false. He said, “It is unbelievable that the press would run with unnamed sources about something, that they agree was inconclusive, but ignore the fact that the actual people involved on the other side of this story are telling you it’s not true.”

In the interview that aired on Fox News Sunday, Trump repeated his doubts about the Intelligence Community’s assessment that Russia was involved in the DNC hacking at all.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Trump said. “I think it’s just another excuse. I don’t believe it . . . No, I don’t believe it at all.”

Past CIA director, British premier say Trump needs spy data

A former CIA director and a former British prime minister offered simple advice on Wednesday for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump: Have daily intelligence briefings. Both Leon Panetta, a former American spymaster and defense secretary, and Britain's former Prime Minister David Cameron emphasized the point after Trump suggested he didn't need them. "I have never seen a president who has said, 'I don't want that stuff.' Never seen it," Panetta said at the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai. Cameron said: "It won't last." Panetta added: "It can't last." Trump told "Fox News Sunday"Both Leon Panetta, a former American spymaster and defense secretary, and Britain's former Prime Minister David Cameron emphasized th

Donald Trump said he doesn’t need daily intelligence briefings because he ’ s a “ smart person .” Trump , who currently receives the presidential daily brief just once a week, said in an interview with Fox News Sunday that he only requires the information if something has changed. “I say , ‘If something should change from this point, immediately call me. I’m available on one-minute’ s notice,’” he said . “I don’t have to be told—you know, I’m, like, a smart person .

Trump said he gets briefings “when I need it” because “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 in the same words every single day for the next eight years. Could be eight years — but eight years.

He characterized the collection of intelligence agencies as being in disarray. “They’re not sure. They’re fighting among themselves.”

Also in disarray, it appears, are Republican leaders in Congress. Some, joining with Democrats, have called for a full investigation of Russian efforts to manipulate the election.

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On Sunday morning, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who chairs the Judiciary Committee’s Crime and Terrorism panel, joined top Democrats in a joint statement that read, in part:

“Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American. Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyber-attacks.”

However, other Republicans were less interested in an investigation that could be seen as undermining an incoming Republican president.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, tweeted, “All this ‘news’ of Russian hacking: it has been going on for years. Serious, but hardly news.”