- Trump stopped receiving presidential intel briefings after the Capitol attack, a new book says.
- He said he would see a briefer after the holidays, but meetings stopped after the riot, it says.
In his final weeks as president,
The latest edition of the history book "Getting to Know The President," 1952 to 2016, written by John Helgerson and first published in 1996, offers a look into the presidential intelligence briefings given to Trump, a US leader Helgerson described as "suspicious and insecure about the intelligence process."
Trump received the briefing about twice a week, and "after the 2020 election,
"When Sanner briefed the president before he went to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays, he commented that he would see her later," Helgerson, formerly the CIA inspector general, writes. "The briefings were to resume on 6 January but none were scheduled after the attack on the Capitol."
The insurrection sent shockwaves through the world as people watched throngs of pro-Trump rioters storm the Capitol in a failed effort to block Congress from certifying then-President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
Shortly before the riot at the Capitol, Trump held a widely advertised rally near the White House, where he urged his supporters to "fight like hell," saying that if they didn't fight, "you're not going to have a country." His then-defense attorney Rudy Giuliani, a key amplifier of election-related conspiracy theories, also made an appearance at the rally and called for a "trial by combat" as Trump supporters cheered him on.
Five people died directly before, during, or after the riot, and at least four police officers who defended the Capitol have died by suicide since then.
Trump was impeached for the second time after the riot and charged with inciting an insurrection. It was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in US history, with 10 House Republicans siding with their Democratic colleagues. Trump was ultimately acquitted in the Senate, but seven Republicans broke ranks to vote with Democrats to convict Trump.
Some Republicans in Congress, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, cited the fact that Trump was out of office — and therefore could not be removed — as their reason for voting to acquit.
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The briefings have long served as a way for the intelligence community to keep the president and his top aides informed of the critical intelligence gathered by way of global spy networks operated by the US and its allies linked to American interests around the world.
Before Biden's inauguration in January, Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump should no longer have access to classified information, adding that "there is no circumstance in which this president should get another intelligence briefing, not now and not in the future."
After Biden took office, he made the decision to bar Trump from receiving the intelligence briefings often provided to former presidents, citing his "erratic behavior" unrelated to the events at the Capitol. He had previously expressed concern that information could be mishandled.