Trump: I don't need daily briefings

President-elect Donald Trump said he does not need to receive the presidential intelligence briefing every day, suggesting in an interview aired Sunday that such briefings are repetitive and he is happy to rely on those around him on matters of intelligence and national security.

Trump has been given the daily intelligence briefing just a handful of times since winning the White House last month, alarming some in the national security community. But those briefings do not always change day to day, Trump told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace in an interview taped over the weekend. And when he does receive the briefing, Trump said he always instructs those offering him the information to contact him should new developments emerge.


“You know, I'm, like, a smart person. I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. Could be eight years — but eight years. I don't need that,” Trump said. “But I do say, ‘If something should change, let us know.’”

In lieu of receiving the daily briefings every day, Trump said the retired generals he has nominated for his Cabinet, James Mattis as secretary of defense and John Kelly as secretary of homeland security, are being regularly briefed. As is Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who Trump called “one of my very good decisions.”

Trump has been critical of the U.S. intelligence community, both as a presidential candidate and as president-elect. The real estate mogul has called "ridiculous" reports that the intelligence community had come to a consensus that the Russian government had launched cyberattacks during the election process intended to help install him as president. He told Wallace that he does not believe the intelligence community's assessment, instead suggesting that it might be a politically motivated attack against him by Democrats.

Regardless, the president-elect called those delivering his briefings "very good people" and said he would be open to receiving more regular intelligence briefings as situations dictate.

“I mean, there will be some very fluid situations. I'll be there not every day, but more than that,” Trump said. “But I don't need to be told, Chris, the same thing every day, every morning, same words, ‘Sir, nothing has changed. Let's go over it again.' I don't need that.”