Trump Has Taken Fewer Briefings Than Biden and Obama. Now Officials Are Turning to Fox News for Inspiration: Report
President Donald Trump has received significantly fewer intelligence briefings than his predecessors, and now officials are considering remaking the President's Daily Brief (PDB) to resemble a Fox News broadcast in an effort to capture his attention.
The PDB is a classified intelligence document designed to keep the commander-in-chief informed on pressing global and national security issues. Traditionally a written and sometimes graphical document, the PDB has been tailored in past instances to presidents' personal preferences.
Trump has reportedly taken the PDB just 14 times since returning to office, according to NBC News. That's far fewer than the 55 briefings he received during a similar period in his first term, or the 90 and 63 briefings taken by Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, respectively.
Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, is now leading an effort to overhaul how the PDB is delivered. According to five sources familiar with the internal deliberations, Gabbard and her team have discussed presenting the daily intelligence update in video form, styled like a Fox News segment.
Some proposals have included hiring a producer from the network and using animated graphics—such as maps showing exploding bombs—to capture Trump's attention. Other tweaks under discussion include focusing more on topics Trump cares about, such as trade and the economy, while downplaying coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Despite a spokesperson dismissing NBC's report as "laughable" and "fake news," sources inside the intelligence community say the changes reflect broader efforts by Gabbard to reform the PDB and build trust with a distrusting president. Gabbard is reportedly planning to relocate the PDB's production from CIA headquarters in Langley to her own office in McLean to consolidate oversight.
As the reforms unfold, intelligence officials and congressional overseers remain divided over whether the changes are innovative or dangerously partisan.
Originally published on Latin Times Donald trump Joe biden Barack obama
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
4 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Canada Rescinds Tax On US Tech Firms In Hopes Of Trump Trade Deal
Canada will rescind taxes impacting US tech firms that had prompted President Donald Trump to retaliate by calling off trade talks, Ottawa said Sunday, adding that negotiations with Washington would resume. The digital services tax, enacted last year, would have seen US service providers such as Alphabet and Amazon on the hook for a multi-billion-dollar payment in Canada by Monday, analysts have said. Washington has previously requested dispute settlement talks over the tax -- but on Friday Trump, who has weaponized US financial power in the form of tariffs, said he was ending trade talks with Ottawa in retaliation for the levy. He also warned that Canada would learn its new tariff rate within the week. But on Sunday, Ottawa binned the tax, which had been forecast to bring in Can$5.9 billion (US$4.2 billion) over five years. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne "announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States," a government statement said. It added that Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney "have agreed that parties will resume negotiations with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025." There was no immediate comment from the White House or Trump. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Friday that Washington had hoped Carney's government would halt the tax "as a sign of goodwill." Canada has been spared some of the sweeping duties Trump has imposed on other countries, but it faces a separate tariff regime. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has also imposed steep levies on imports of steel, aluminum and autos. Canada is the largest supplier of foreign steel and aluminum to the United States. Last week, Carney said Ottawa will adjust its 25 percent counter tariffs on US steel and aluminum -- in response to a doubling of US levies on the metals to 50 percent -- if a bilateral trade deal was not reached in 30 days. "We will continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interest of Canadians," Carney said Friday. He had previously said a good outcome in the talks would be to "stabilize the trading relationship with the United States" and "ready access to US markets for Canadian companies" while "not having our hands tied in terms of our dealings with the rest of the world." Carney and Trump met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada earlier this month. Leaders at the summit pushed Trump to back away from his punishing trade war. Dozens of countries face a July 9 deadline for steeper US duties to kick in -- rising from a current 10 percent. It remains to be seen if they will successfully reach agreements before the deadline. Bessent has said Washington could wrap up its agenda for trade deals by September, indicating more agreements could be concluded, although talks were likely to extend past July.
Int'l Business Times
4 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Most Asian Stocks Rise As Investors Eye US Trade Talks
Asian equities mostly rose Monday following a record-breaking day on Wall Street as investors kept tabs on countries' efforts to strike trade deals with the United States before a key deadline next week. And the dollar weakened on growing expectations for more interest rate cuts, while eyes were on Donald Trump's signature tax-cutting bill -- now inching towards a Senate vote -- that some experts warn could add trillions of dollars to the national debt. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at all-time peaks Friday amid optimism governments will be able to avoid swingeing tariffs imposed by the US president in April and paused until July 9 to allow for negotiations. Officials from Japan and India have extended their stays in Washington to continue talks, raising hopes for agreements with two of the world's biggest economies. Hopes that the deadline could be extended were boosted Friday by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told Fox Business "we have countries approaching us with very good deals" but they might not all be finalised by next week. But he added: "If we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18 -- there are another important 20 relationships -- then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day," which falls on September 1. Trump said at the weekend that he did not expect to extend the deadline, telling the "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" show: "I don't think I'll need to". "I could, no big deal," he added in the interview that was taped Friday. Meanwhile, Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Sunday that Ottawa would rescind taxes impacting US tech firms in hopes of reaching a trade agreement with Washington after Trump called off talks in retaliation for the levy. Negotiations would resume with the aim of getting a deal by July 21, Ottawa added. After Wall Street's record day, most of Asia followed suit. Tokyo extended its recent rally fuelled by tech firms, while there were also gains in Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta. But Hong Kong, Wellington and Taipei fell. There was little major reaction to data showing the contraction in Chinese factory activity eased further in June after a China-US trade truce. The dollar extended losses against its peers as traders increased bets on at least two rate cuts this year following Trump's indication he could choose a successor to Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell within months. "Markets... are already pricing not just two Fed cuts this year, but a full-blown easing cycle stretching deep into 2026," said SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes. "Powell may still hold the gavel, but traders are betting the next Fed chair walks, talks, and cuts like a dove in MAGA red." Senators were also debating Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill", which extends his expiring first-term tax cuts at a cost of $4.5 trillion and beefs up border security. The Republican president has ramped up pressure to get the package to his desk by July 4, and called out wavering lawmakers from his party. However, there are worries about the impact on the economy, with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimating the measure would add nearly $3.3 trillion to US deficits over a decade. Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.6 percent at 40,809.82 (break) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 24,183.73 Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,433.80 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1724 from $1.1718 on Friday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3723 from $1.3715 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 144.31 yen from 144.68 yen Euro/pound: UP at 85.45 pence from 85.43 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.5 percent at $65.18 per barrel Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $67.57 per barrel New York - Dow: UP 1.0 percent at 43,819.27 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 8,798.91 (close)
Int'l Business Times
5 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
US Senate Edges Towards Vote On Trump's Divisive Spending Bill
US senators were inching Sunday towards a vote on Donald Trump's "big beautiful" spending bill, a hugely divisive proposal that would deliver key parts of the US president's domestic agenda while making massive cuts to social welfare programs. Trump is hoping the "One Big Beautiful Bill" will help seal his legacy, extending his expiring first-term tax cuts at a cost of $4.5 trillion and beefing up border security. But Republicans eyeing 2026 midterm congressional elections are divided over the package, which would strip health care from millions of the poorest Americans and add more than $3 trillion to the country's debt. The Senate formally opened debate on the bill late Saturday, after Republican holdouts delayed what should have been a procedural vote. Senators narrowly passed the motion to begin debate, with two Republicans joining 47 Democrats in voting against it -- drawing sharp rebukes from Trump. The US president has pushed his party to get the bill passed and on his desk for him to sign into law by July 4, the United States' Independence Day. On Sunday, however, he seemed to cast doubt on that timeline, and accused the opposition Democrats of delaying proceedings for political reasons. "There are a lot of bad people in the Democrat Party," he told Fox News in an interview aired Sunday, berating his political opponents for not backing an increase to the debt ceiling. Earlier, Trump's tone had been even sharper. "Republicans must remember that they are fighting against a very evil, corrupt and, in many ways, incompetent (Policywise!) group of people, who would rather see our Country 'go down in flames' than do the right thing," he said on social media. Democrats are bitterly opposed to the legislation and Trump's agenda, and have vowed to hold up the debate. They began by insisting that the entirety of the roughly 1,000-page bill be read aloud to the chamber before the debate commenced. If passed in the Senate, the bill would go back to the House for approval, where Republicans can only afford to lose a handful of votes -- and are facing stiff opposition from within their own ranks. On Sunday, Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who opposes the bill, said he would not seek reelection next year, US media reported, after Trump excoriated him for his opposition to the spending plan. Republicans are scrambling to offset the $4.5 trillion cost of Trump's tax relief, with many of the proposed cuts to come from decimating funding for Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans. Republicans are split on the Medicaid cuts, which will threaten scores of rural hospitals and lead to an estimated 8.6 million Americans being deprived of health care. The spending plan would also roll back many of the tax incentives for renewable energy that were put in place under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden. On Saturday, former Trump advisor Elon Musk -- with whom the president had a public falling out this month over his criticism of the bill -- called the current proposal "utterly insane and destructive." "It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future," said Musk, who is the world's richest person, and heads electric vehicle company Tesla and space flight firm SpaceX, among others. Independent analysis also shows that the bill would pave the way for a historic redistribution of wealth from the poorest 10 percent of Americans to the richest. The bill is unpopular across multiple demographic, age and income groups, according to extensive recent polling. Although the House has already passed its own version, both chambers have to agree on the same text before it can be signed into law.
