A debriefing on the President's briefers (w/ David Priess)
Skullduggery
Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti
4 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2021
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After Donald Trump was elected President, the CIA started briefing him on the threats facing the country and other developments the could affect national security interests. From the outset, there was a problem. Trump, while occasionally polite and willing to listen, was rarely impressed with what his briefers had to tell him. He didn’t want his briefing every day. And he wasn’t interested in getting a written brief either. “He doesn’t really read anything,” his chief CIA briefer explained. “In an hour’s discussion, there might only be eight or nine minutes of real intelligence,” said the director of national intelligence. What is remarkable about these comments is that they come from a new book written by a former CIA inspector general and released by the CIA itself. It’s called, Getting to know the President. What does it say about the CIA that it would put out a tome that discloses somewhat embarrassing details of a President it once served? We talk to David Priess, a former CIA briefer himself.
GUEST:
- David Priess (@DavidPriess), Lawfare Publisher/COO, cohost @ThatWasChatter pod, fmr. CIA
HOSTS:
- Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
- Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
- Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)
RESOURCES:
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| 0:00.0 | After Donald Trump was elected president, the CIA began briefing him on the threats facing |
| 0:05.2 | the country and other developments that could affect national security interests. |
| 0:09.6 | From the outset, there was a problem. |
| 0:11.9 | Trump, while occasionally polite and willing to listen, was rarely impressed with what his |
| 0:15.8 | briefers had to tell him. |
| 0:17.5 | I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next |
| 0:21.3 | eight years, he said, explaining why he didn't need to get his intelligence briefing every |
| 0:25.8 | day. |
| 0:26.8 | He also wasn't terribly interested in getting a written brief either. |
| 0:30.7 | He doesn't really read anything, his chief CIA briefer explained. |
| 0:34.6 | At times during his oral briefing, Trump was, quote, prone to fly off on tangents. |
| 0:39.6 | There might be eight or nine minutes of real intelligence and in hours discussion, said |
| 0:44.0 | the director of national intelligence, while the intelligence community worked with evidence, |
| 0:48.7 | Trump the director said, was, quote, fat free. |
| 0:52.6 | Evidence doesn't cut it for him. |
| 0:55.0 | None of this at this point is especially surprising. |
| 0:57.5 | But what's remarkable about these comments is they don't come from a book by Bob Woodward |
| 1:01.7 | or any of the other innumerable scribes who have chronicled Trump's presidency. |
| 1:06.2 | Instead, they come from a new book written by a former CIA inspector general and released |
| 1:11.3 | by the CIA itself. |
| 1:12.6 | It's called getting to know the president, the history of the agency's efforts to keep |
| 1:17.3 | our country's chief executives informed. |
... |
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