Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is advising President Donald Trump to provide President-elect Joe Biden with intelligence briefings.
“The president is contesting the election and I would urge him to give intel briefings to Joe Biden,” Graham told reporters Wednesday.
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.”
Watch his remarks below:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): "The president is contesting the election and I would urge him to give intel briefings to Joe Biden." pic.twitter.com/SGuhHqnCQ6
— The Recount (@therecount) November 18, 2020
Former government officials have warned the president’s failure to concede the election is hurting the nation’s national security.
“You lose a lot if the transition is delayed because the new people are not allowed to get their head in the game,” Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, said during an interview with Politico Friday.
He added, “The president, with all due respect, does not have to concede. But it’s about the nation. It hurts our national security because the people who should be getting [up to speed], it’s not a process where you go from zero to 1,000 miles per hour.”
Kelly suggested, “There’s nothing wrong with starting the transition, starting to get people like the national security people, obviously the president and the vice president-elect, if they are in fact elected, to start getting them [up to speed] on the intelligence.”
Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan made it clear he is concerned about national security due to Trump’s refusing to accept the election results, as IJR previously reported.
“This is something that, as you pointed out, can be very damaging to our national security because this period of transition from one administration to the other is critically important for our country,” Brennan said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Sen. John Thune (R-N.D.) also support providing Biden with intelligence briefings, as IJR previously reported.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (D) were briefed by national security experts on Tuesday.
According to a readout of the briefing, Biden and Harris 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.”
