President-elect Trump dismissed concerns on Sunday that he has turned away intelligence briefers on more than one occasion, claiming he only wishes to receive what is supposed to be a daily briefing when he needs it.
“You are getting the presidential daily briefing only once a week,” Fox News’ Chris Wallace noted in an interview with the incoming Republican president.
“Yes. Well, I get it when I need it,” Trump responded.
“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,” Trump explained. “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.”
Trump said Vice President-elect Mike Pence and those who will be advising him on national security in his administration are also receiving briefings, though he did not clarify how often.
“In the meantime, my generals … are being briefed. And Mike Pence is being briefed. And I’m being briefed also,” he said, adding that there are times when he may choose to receive the briefing every day because “there will be some very fluid situations.”
“I’ll be there not every day, but more than that,” he said of those situations. “But I don’t need to be told the same thing every day, every morning: ‘Sir, nothing has changed. Let’s go over it again.'”
“I don’t need that,” he repeated.
