Donald Trump Won't Use Classified Intelligence Briefing Because He Doesn't 'Trust' The Source

Donald Trump is set to receive his first classified intelligence briefing in New York on Wednesday, but he says he has no plans to use the information because he doesn't trust the U.S. intelligence agencies as a source.

During an interview that aired on Fox News Wednesday morning, the Republican nominee was asked whether he "trust[s] intelligence."

"Not so much from the people that have been doing it for our country," replied Trump. "I mean, look what’s happened over the last 10 years. … It's been catastrophic."

"Very easy to use them, but I won't use them because they’ve made such bad decisions," Trump added while referring to intelligence failures that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "If we would have never touched it, it would have been a lot better."

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), a long-time member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Patch it's hard to take Trump's criticisms of the intelligence community seriously.

"When I hear Donald Trump criticizing the intelligence community, I have to stand back," Wyden said. "He needs to work on getting intelligence policy right before criticizing the intelligence community. It was just a couple of weeks ago, that Donald Trump, an American citizen running for the highest office, called on a foreign spies to help him get elected.

"Donald Trump’s criticism is pretty bizarre."

Trump is set to receive his first classified briefing on Wednesday inside the FBI's New York field office, despite reservations about his judgment among Republicans and the public at large.

Trump, who will be accompanied by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, is receiving the briefing as a matter of custom for presidential nominees who emerge from the two major parties after their conventions.

Career staffers from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the nation's top intelligence office, will lead the briefing. The subject of the briefing is expected to cover major threats and emerging concerns around the world.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has suggested that those providing the briefing to Trump should give Trump a "fake" briefing because Trump is too "dangerous" to receive a real one.

"How would the CIA and the other intelligence agencies brief this guy? How could they do that? I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous," Reid told the Huffington Post. "Fake it, pretend you’re doing a briefing, but you can’t give the guy any information."

However, the briefings with presidential candidates tend to be somewhat watered down assessments of global threats and the state of the world.

"The information we received was obviously classified," Lanhee Chen, who worked as the chief policy adviser to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, told The Washington Post last month, adding, "but I don't believe that that information was of the same scope and specificity that the president or vice president or other national security leaders get once they're actually in office."

In the Fox News interview, Trump also turned to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, her ongoing email scandal and the intelligence briefings.

"I'm worried about her getting it because of her email situation. She can’t keep anything private," said Trump. "I think her email scandal is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen."

He added: "I think probably her single greatest achievement in life will be getting out of that mess."

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons