President Obama took a jab at Donald Trump’s trustworthiness with classified briefings Thursday, saying the Republican nominee needs to guard against the temptation to “spread around” sensitive government secrets.
His remark came as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is still under fire for being careless with classified documents while serving as secretary of state.
Asked at a press conference whether he was concerned about Mr. Trump receiving intelligence briefings, Mr. Obama said tradition and law dictate the national-security updates so both nominees will be prepared to take office.
“They have been told these are classified briefings,” Mr. Obama said. “If they want to be president, they have to start acting like president, and that means being able to receive these briefings and not spread them around.”
The comment was an apparent reference to Mr. Trump claiming to have seen video of the transfer of money to Iranians in exchange for American hostages in January.
U.S. officials maintain that no such video exists, and that the only video shown on TV was of the hostages being released in Switzerland.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton also is receiving the intelligence briefings, although House Speaker Paul D. Ryan sought to bar her from getting the classified information, saying she can’t be trusted with it. FBI Director James B. Comey said last month that Mrs. Clinton was “extremely careless” with classified documents on her private email server while she was secretary of State.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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