A Republican senator from Oklahoma said that he “will get involved” if President Trump does not begin sharing intelligence briefings with President-elect Joe Biden.
Sen. James Lankford stopped short of affirming that Biden won the presidential election but said that “there’s nothing wrong” with him receiving the briefings so that “whichever way [the election] goes, people can be ready,” according to KRMG.
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“There’s nothing wrong with Vice President Biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself,” Lankford said. “And if that’s not occurring by Friday, I will step in as well … and say that this needs to occur so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task.”
A number of media outlets have called the race for Biden, but Trump has filed a flurry of lawsuits contesting the results and claiming widespread voter fraud in key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia. No evidence for these claims has been verified.
Lankford said that intelligence briefings generally are not shared with an incoming president until the results of the election are certified by the General Services Administration. Lankford said that the GSA is not able to do that until Friday at the earliest.
“The GSA has to certify that election to start turning it around, the first day they can do that on the calendar is Friday, and when that occurs, they should actually step in,” Lankford said. “And I would tell you, I’m on the committee of oversight — I’ve already started engaging in this area.”
Lankford said he looked to the 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush to determine whether Biden should be receiving briefings by now.
“My first question was, ‘In 2000, what occurred in 2000 during that whole challenge?'” he asked. “And what happened was President Clinton made available to … George Bush, the governor at that point, still in the process of running, the availability to start getting those briefings and to do that.”
Lankford added that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris already has the clearances necessary to see intelligence briefings.
“Kamala Harris is on the Intelligence Committee. She has all the clearances that she needs to be able to do that.”
