WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — The Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, the nation’s highest ranking intelligence official, announced Congress will no longer receive in-person briefings about election interference, but will instead get written reports, to prevent leaks of classified information. Ratcliffe informed Congress Friday, and many lawmakers have since pushed back.
“The DNI cannot stiff-arm Congress,” said Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), who sits on the Armed Services Committee.
He says without the chance to ask questions and challenge intelligence officials assumptions, Congress cannot properly defend from Russian election interference.
“It is the Q and A that ultimately delivers the information congress needs and the American public needs,” said Garamendi.
He says DNI Ratcliffe and the White House are keeping the public in the dark on matters of Russian involvement in the 2020 election.
“Why is the president protecting Putin yet again?” Garamendi said.
The White House says the change from in-person to written briefings is necessary to prevent partisan leaks.
“The President has been very clear, and more clearly Director Ratcliffe has been saying leaks for political purposes are not to be tolerated,” said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. “They’ve been very clear they’ll fulfill their statutory obligations but they will not participate in partisan leaking.”
“We’ve seen considerable leaking from the house intelligence committee primarily in classified settings,” said Republican voter Matt Mackowiak from Texas.
He says he supports Ratcliffe’s move to prevent classified information from becoming public for political motives.
“It’s really sad the intelligence committee has been used to this extent,” said Mackowiak.
Jacob Green, an independent voter from Utah, says he’d feel more secure about the integrity of the upcoming election if congress continued to get in-person briefings on election interference.
“My member of congress is there to represent me, to make sure we have secure elections…There should be that back and forth to make sure they have all the information to do their jobs,” said Green.