Trump was unprepared for the 2016 transition because his team didn't think they'd win the election, CIA-published book says

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Trump's team was "not fully prepared" for the 2016 transition, a CIA-published book said.

The team had "apparently ... not expected to win the election," it said.

Trump also declined to receive intelligence briefings after he got elected, the book said.

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Donald Trump's team was "not fully prepared" for the 2016 presidential transition from former President Barack Obama, apparently because they didn't expect to win, a CIA-published book said.

"The Trump team was not fully prepared to launch transition operations, apparently having not expected to win the election," John L. Helgerson, a former intelligence officer, wrote in "Getting to Know the President."

The book was published by the CIA for use by US officials. The CIA says in the book that its contents are the author's, and do not reflect the position of the CIA or any other US government agency.

Helgerson added that Trump chose not to start receiving intelligence briefings immediately after the election, and that his first such took place on November 15. The CIA analyst Ted Gistaro said Trump was "engaged, attentive, and appreciative" in his first briefing, Helgerson wrote.

According to the book, Trump was told by Gistaro that he would get the President's Daily Brief (PDB), like President Barack Obama did, and could designate who on his team would get it.

But when asked if Trump read the PDB, Gistaro said: "He touched it. He doesn't really read anything."

Helgerson's book, which tracks the the relation between different presidents and US intelligence agencies, was first published in 1996. It has been updated with every new president.

bad_luck_charmer on November 29th, 2021 at 14:34 UTC »

We’ve known this. There was no transition team.

RandomLogicThough on November 29th, 2021 at 14:13 UTC »

I will always remember how he looked at the party after, etc, for a bit. Fucking depressed and shocked imo.

Squirrely__Dan on November 29th, 2021 at 14:13 UTC »

it was always meant to be a quick and dirty cash grab