In his Fox News interview on Sunday, Donald Trump shed some light on his reported abstention from intelligence briefings in the final stages of the campaign for the White House and in the weeks since:

“ ‘[Y]ou 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 — it could be eight years. ... I don’t need that. ... But I do say: If something should change, let us know.’ ” — President-elect Donald Trump

In the wide-ranging interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, which aired Sunday afternoon on Fox News, the president-elect also labeled as ridiculous the suggestion that Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin intervened in the election on the Trump campaign’s behalf; called the Lockheed Martin US:LM F-35 fighter program “out of control,” in much the manner he’d previously criticized an Air Force One procurement contract with Boeing BA, -3.58% ; defended his plan to slap a 35% tariff on goods made overseas by U.S. companies upon their sale in the U.S.; defended his precedent-breaking phone conversation with the president of Taiwan; and sang the praises of Exxon Mobil XOM, -3.20% Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson without confirming his intent to nominate Tillerson to lead the State Department.

See:McCain calls Exxon CEO’s relationship with Russia’s Putin ‘a matter of concern to me’

Plus:Trump questions CIA credibility as agency forms view that Russian hackers sought to aid his bid for the presidency