Republicans in Congress have differing views on whether Joe Biden should get high-level intelligence briefings. This comes as some media companies are declaring Biden the winner while Trump is contesting the results in court alleging a fraudulent election.
Biden has been getting intel briefings as he is a nominee for president. But they do not include the type of top-secret information Trump gets on a daily basis. The briefings help the president stay fully informed. And in recent years, they have also been given to presidents-elect to help them be prepared for when they take office.
Joe Biden is not the president-elect. Yet several GOP senators are calling for Biden to receive the high-level briefings.
For example, Senator John Cornyn on the Intelligence Committee said the information should be communicated to Biden in some way. Cornyn says if Biden does win, he should be able to hit the ground running.
GOP Senators Grassley, Romney, and Collins have similar views.
Biden’s campaign suggested that Republicans would recognize Biden as president-elect because of pressure from the general public. In the first presidential debate, Biden told the moderator he would not declare victory prematurely.
As there is no certified winner, some Republicans disagree with Biden receiving the intel. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy told CNN that whoever is president on Jan. 20 should get the information. And Armed Services Committee Chairman, Senator James Inhofe, said a candidate should not receive them until he is officially president-elect.
The founding director of the Democracy Institute, Patrick Basham, says Biden should not get the briefings for two reasons. One is that the briefings would be premature since Biden is not—and may never be—certified as the elected president of the United States.
The second is that it could be a national security risk. That’s because the material on Hunter Biden’s laptop suggests his father has a financial relationship with the Chinese Communist regime, which is openly hostile to the United States.
