Nearly eight years ago, after both major political parties had settled on their presidential nominees, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan made a pitch to then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. As the Wisconsin Republican argued at the time, it was customary for both parties’ White House hopefuls to start receiving national security briefings, but Ryan wanted to make an exception for Hillary Clinton.
Intelligence agencies, Ryan said, “should deny Hillary Clinton access to classified information during this campaign given how she so recklessly handled classified information.”
As the GOP congressman saw it, the former secretary of state had a private email server, which in his mind necessarily disqualified her from receiving sensitive national security information. Clinton, Ryan argued, simply couldn’t be trusted with classified intelligence. The risk to us all was too great.
Not surprisingly, Clapper dismissed the speaker’s appeal as nonsense, and Clinton received the briefings that have been common in recent generations. Nevertheless, Ryan’s effort came to mind anew reading this Politico report.
U.S. intelligence officials are planning to brief Donald Trump on national security matters if he secures the GOP nomination this summer — despite concerns about his handling of classified information. The decision would be in keeping with a tradition that dates back to 1952, but it would mark the first time an administration has volunteered to share classified information with a candidate who is facing criminal charges related to the mishandling of classified documents.
The report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that the Biden administration “intends to share intelligence with the former president no matter the outcome of his trial in Florida.”
The problem is not that this is unexpected. On the contrary, it would be more surprising if President Joe Biden and his team deliberately broke with tradition and denied Trump security briefings.
The problem, however, is that this is an exceedingly dangerous idea.
Right off the bat, it’s worth emphasizing that it’s not altogether clear whether the presumptive Republican nominee actually wants intelligence briefings. Before taking office in early 2017, for example, Trump was offered security briefings, but he wasn’t interested. While in office, Trump also routinely ignored intelligence briefings.
Two years into his term, The Washington Post had a memorable report along these lines, noting that the CIA and other agencies were devoting extensive “time, energy and resources” to ensuring that Trump received accurate intelligence, but they found that such efforts were “a waste” because the then-president wouldn’t listen and didn’t care.
With this in mind, Biden administration officials might offer the Republican classified briefings, but it’s easy to imagine Trump turning them down. But let’s say for the sake of conversation that the former president actually wants to start receiving this information ahead of Election Day. Why would that be a problem? For one thing, Trump has spent years carelessly and recklessly sharing sensitive national security information — including with foreign adversaries — for reasons that no one has ever fully explained. It’s happened enough times that I was able to put together a Top 10 list on the subject. For another, we’re talking about someone who is quite literally being prosecuted, right now, for allegedly taking classified documents from the White House, storing them in a bathroom, on stage in a ballroom, and in his personal office at his glorified country club, defying a subpoena demanding their return, taking steps to obstruct the process, and lying about all of this. If there’s anyone in American politics less deserving of access to sensitive security information, I can’t think of them.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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