Joe Biden has been declared president-elect by many in the news media, but the results are not yet certified. And so, President Trump and his team will fight on in court until they are.
And now a few questions have been raised about how to proceed. One of the most important questions is: Should Biden start receiving intelligence briefings? The answers are mixed among Republicans. To a few, like Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), Biden should be in the room. Lankford, who sits on the Senate Oversight Committee, even told the press that if Biden doesn't get access to those briefings by Friday, then he will step in and make it happen.
“There’s nothing wrong with Vice President Biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself so that he can be ready,” Lankford said on the Tulsa radio station KRMG.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Biden's running mate, is already cleared to receive briefings.
“There’s nothing wrong with a former vice president getting those," Lankford added. "Kamala Harris is on the Intelligence Committee, she has all the clearance she needs to be able to do that. There is no loss from him getting the briefings."
We got similar answers from Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
New - Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is the most senior Republican in the Senate, told me that President-elect Joe Biden should have access to classified briefings to prepare for the transition.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 12, 2020
“I would think - especially on classified briefings - the answer is yes,” Grassley said.
From the pool. Graham when asked if Biden should receive intelligence briefings: “I think so. Yes.”
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 12, 2020
But Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who this week said he had "nothing" to congratulate Biden for yet, said it doesn't matter because the briefings themselves are inconsequential.
Per Capitol Hill pool:
— Lindsay Wise (@lindsaywise) November 12, 2020
Q: Should GSA make a formal ascertainment to enable Biden to get intel briefings?@RonJohnsonWI: "In general, from what I’ve seen, intelligence briefings are really not worth a whole lot...The things we see in the SCIF don’t have much value."