Trump Team: President-Elect Now Receiving 3 Presidential Briefings a Week

Trump's team says the president-elect is receiving three "PDBs" a week.

ByABC News
December 14, 2016, 2:06 PM

— -- Just days after President-elect Donald Trump cast doubt on the value of receiving the traditional presidential briefing on a daily basis, his transition team said he is upping the frequency to three times a week from roughly once a week as he moves closer to Inauguration Day.

"The president is getting the PDB three times a week right now," said transition communications director Sean Spicer, using the acronym for the presidential daily briefing. "He is meeting with [his national security adviser, retired Lt.] General [Michael] Flynn on a daily basis to get an intel update."

Spicer later clarified to ABC News that the change to three days a week is, in fact, a new protocol and was first publicly revealed today, making this the first week that Trump will receive three official PDBs. Spicer added that Flynn and Vice President-elect Mike Pence are receiving PDBs on a daily basis.

Trump as of Dec. 6 had only received four official PDBs since his election in November, according to transition officials, and received another later that week.

The announcement comes just days following Trump's own comments that claimed the briefings he had received were largely repetitive in nature.

"I don't have to be told -- you know, I’m, like, a smart person," Trump told Fox News in an interview. "I don't have to be told the same thing and the same words every single day for the next eight years."

President Barack Obama, who earned a reputation as a studious recipient of the presidential briefing during his transition, warned Monday that without the regular intake of the briefings Trump would be "flying blind."

"It doesn't matter how smart you are," Obama said on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" Monday. "You have to make the best information possible to make the best decisions possible."

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