Former presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg (D) is expressing his frustration with President-elect Joe Biden’s inability to access intelligence briefings.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle asked Buttigieg how big of a concern it is for Biden to have not received intelligence briefings this long after the election.
“It’s a huge concern because you need to be able to prepare for the threat streams that the country faces. The intelligence community and the military, with no regard for politics, is out there doing the work of making sure day-by-day that the president is briefed on everything that we’re going to face,” Buttigieg said.
He added, “This just seems to be an exercise in trying to somehow protect the outgoing president’s ego and that’s not worth undermining U.S. national security.”
Watch his remarks below:
.@PeteButtigieg says it's a "huge concern" that President-elect Biden hasn't gotten intelligence briefings yet.
— MSNBC Reports (@MSNBC_reports) November 19, 2020
"This just seems to be an exercise in trying to somehow protect the outgoing president's ego and that's not worth undermining national security."@MSNBC pic.twitter.com/J3ZJqjZqV7
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) urged Trump to provide Biden with intelligence briefings on Wednesday, as IJR previously reported.
“The president is contesting the election and I would urge him to give intel briefings to Joe Biden,” Graham said.
He added, “How much further to go? I don’t know. We’re going to be fine. At the end of the day, this thing will work itself out. It always has and it will here.”
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (D) did receive a briefing from national security experts on Tuesday.
They were briefed on “the diplomatic, defense, and intelligence challenges the administration will inherit on day one, focusing on both the strategic landscape as well as the readiness of our foreign policy and national security departments and agencies.”
The General Services Administration has failed to acknowledge Biden as the winner of the election.
Still, Biden said, “I am optimistic, but we should be further along…The law says that the General Services Administration has a person who recognizes who the winner is, and then they have to have access to all the data and information that the government possesses to be prepared.”
He continued, “It doesn’t require there to be an absolute winner. It says the ‘apparent winner.'”