Biden: Ending Election Security Briefings Is 'Shameless Partisan Manipulation'
Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed the national intelligence director’s office on Saturday for its abrupt decision to halt in-person congressional election security briefings amid reports concluding that Russia is trying to interfere in the 2020 presidential race.
The Democratic presidential nominee said in a statement that the move by the national intelligence director, John Ratcliffe, “is nothing less than a shameless partisan manipulation” to protect President Donald Trump’s personal interests and is “how American national security and sovereignty are violated.”
“The tools of our government are meant to defend the American people and our system of governance against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Biden said. “And yet, at a moment when we know that our elections are under threat from foreign interference ― and when the President of the United States has invited interference from Russia and China ― the director of national intelligence is failing to provide full information about the danger.”
Ratcliffe told Congress earlier Saturday that his office will no longer give in-person election security briefings on Capitol Hill, raising concern among lawmakers about the public’s right to know about any foreign interference in the upcoming presidential election. Trump said that Ratcliffe made the decision because the administration “got tired” of election security intelligence reportedly leaking from Congress.
As usual, President Trump is lying and projecting.
Trump fired the last DNI for briefing Congress on Russian efforts to help his campaign.
Now he’s ending briefings altogether.
Trump doesn’t want the American people to know about Russia’s efforts to aid his re-election. https://t.co/bERk44WcvQ— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) August 29, 2020
Lawmakers will supposedly continue to receive written briefings, a move Ratcliffe said “helps ensure … that the information [the national intelligence director’s office]...
