Cutting off Donald Trump’s classified briefings

| 4:00 pm EST November 28, 2020
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Imagine planning a surprise party or secret gift for a person you truly care about. The problem is there’s someone you must entrust who may blurt out your plans. Even worse, you suspect he’ll break your confidence and even undermine you if he believes he could benefit from doing so. Now, imagine you’re the United States of America, the party or gift is our state secrets, and the careless and traitorous character is Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, this is not hard to imagine. Starting on January 20, 2021, Trump will become a former president who is expecting to continue receiving daily intelligence briefings. It’s dangerous enough that Trump already knows way more than he should about classified details of the United States government’s capabilities, plans, and strategies. But the thought of Trump receiving a steady, fresh batch of new American secrets during the Biden presidency is alarming.

The sitting President is supposed to read the daily briefings carefully and take action to protect the country. However, as Palmer Report told you a few months ago, a HuffPost analysis revealed that Trump’s receipt of intelligence briefings was never reliable or consistent and has slowed down steadily over his presidency to near zero. Trump’s extreme laziness and dereliction of duty has amounted to a waste of tens of billions of annual taxpayer dollars that go toward the preparation of comprehensive and accurate briefings.

Ironically, once Trump is no longer President, he may finally become quite interested in the briefings. Out of power and deeply in debt, Trump would no doubt see a unique opportunity to make money off the extremely valuable and sensitive information contained within the briefings. Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, and other countries could offer Trump attractive financial incentives, if not figure out ways to leverage or blackmail him, in return for inside information about the country this “America First” President loves to throw under the bus.

Fortunately, there’s a way to prevent Trump from continuing to undermine the United States once he’s out of office. Former Presidents receive daily intelligence briefings by tradition, not law. President Biden can stop this new form of Trump treason before it begins by canceling Trump’s briefings effective January 20. Prominent intelligence experts including former CIA Director John Brennan are already calling on Biden to seriously consider taking this unprecedented action, according to NBC News.

Time and again, Trump has proven himself to be a dangerous steward of America’s secrets. Boasting to Bob Woodward about an undisclosed nuclear weapons program, tweeting a secret satellite image of an Iranian nuclear installation, and revealing sensitive terrorist threat information to top Russian diplomats in the Oval Office are just a few examples of how Trump cares nothing for the country he swore an oath to protect. Trump can’t be afforded the opportunity to trade America’s secrets for cash, and President Biden must nip this treasonous scheme in the bud on his first day in office.