Donald Trump will receive first intelligence briefing Wednesday
Donald Trump will receive his first intelligence briefing on Wednesday, officials familiar with the matter tell CBS News. The briefing is expected to be at a secure facility at the FBI in New York, likely at 26 Federal Plaza.
The CIA indicated in May that the intelligence briefings for the nominees of each party would begin after the nominating conventions in July.
The practice of briefing the nominees dates back to Harry Truman, who learned 12 days into his own presidency that the U.S. was working on the Manhattan Project. In 1952, he decided candidates should be given the option of receiving the briefings.
According to the book “The President’s Book of Secrets,” by David Priess, after the 2008 Democratic convention, Mr. Obama received one briefing -- on terrorism. He was not briefed on covert operations.
During the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush was briefed for four hours in a session at his ranch in Crawford, Priess wrote. And, after the 2000 election, with its inconclusive result, intelligence officials made Bush the first presidential candidate in history to receive the Daily Brief before being deemed the president-elect. Al Gore, who was vice president when he ran against Bush, was already getting the daily brief by virtue of his office.
In this cycle, prominent Democrats have suggested that Trump can’t be trusted with the briefings -- Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, opined, “I hope that they don’t tell him [Donald Trump] anything” because “you can’t trust him.”
Republicans similarly point to Hillary Clinton’s treatment of classified material and say she shouldn’t be getting the briefings either. House Speaker Paul Ryan wrote to National Intelligence Director James Clapper urging him to withhold classified information from Clinton “for the duration of her candidacy for president.” Clapper responded that both would get the briefings “on an even-handed non-partisan basis.”
CBS News’ Andy Triay and Elizabeth Hinson contributed to this report
Note: This article has been corrected to reflect that Trump’s first intelligence briefing is Wednesday, not Tuesday, as originally stated.