Trump Took No Intel Briefings In Final Month In Office

Not at all surprising:

The US intelligence community “struggled” to brief President-elect Donald Trump in 2016, achieving “only limited success” in educating and developing a relationship with the incoming president, according to a newly released unclassified history of the transition period published by the CIA’s in-house academic center.

Trump rarely, if at all, read the daily classified briefing book prepared for him during the transition, according to the lead intelligence analyst responsible for briefing the president-elect. “He touched it. He doesn’t really read anything,” the history quotes Ted Gistaro, the career CIA analyst tapped for the job.

More from the book:



Former President Donald Trump stopped receiving intelligence briefings entirely a month before the end of his term, according to new information released by the CIA. After leaving for Mar-a-Lago for Christmas on Dec. 23, Trump stopped receiving briefings altogether.

“After the 2020 election, PDB briefings also continued for a period of time,” former CIA Inspector General John Helgerson wrote.

“When Sanner briefed the president before he went to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays, he commented that he would see her later. The briefings were to resume on 6 January,” Helgserson continued, “but none were scheduled after the attack on the Capitol.”