This Is How Trump's NatSec Aides Get Him To Pay Attention To His Briefings [View all]
By ESME CRIBB Published MAY 17, 2017 10:30 AM
It appears that four months into his presidency, Donald Trump hasnt developed any keener of an interest in his daily national security briefings.
According to a report published Wednesday by Reuters, Trump is more likely to read national security briefing materials if his name is mentioned in as many paragraphs as possible.
Unnamed officials who have briefed the President and others familiar with his learning processes told the publication that Trump still prefers one-page memos and visual aids. One unnamed source told Reuters that since Trump keeps reading if hes mentioned in briefing materials, officials on the National Security Council have learned to insert the Presidents name into as many paragraphs as we can.
The New York Times had reported a day earlier that three anonymous administration officials agreed they couldnt publicly offer the most honest defense of Trumps disclosure of highly classified information during a meeting with top Russian diplomats in the Oval Office: that he is simply too ignorant of and uninterested in how the intelligence in his briefings is gathered to divulge it on purpose.
That slapdash admission adds dimension to Trumps Tuesday tweet in which he copped to sharing facts with the Russian diplomats.
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