--- title: Donald Trump: Petition Started To Prevent Security Briefings description: A petition to prevent Trump from receiving the intelligence briefings had garnered more than 97,000 signatures as of Friday morning. canonical: https://time.com/4430359/donald-trump-intelligence-briefing-petition/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-29T12:46:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:48.747Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump: Petition Started To Prevent Security Briefings og:description: A petition to prevent Trump from receiving the intelligence briefings had garnered more than 97,000 signatures as of Friday morning. og:url: https://time.com/4430359/donald-trump-intelligence-briefing-petition/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4aa0566afc30ac18/69889fcd524fc0d2fedf8ee2/donald-trump-russia-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Miami Press Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump: Petition Started To Prevent Security Briefings twitter:description: A petition to prevent Trump from receiving the intelligence briefings had garnered more than 97,000 signatures as of Friday morning. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4aa0566afc30ac18/69889fcd524fc0d2fedf8ee2/donald-trump-russia-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Petition to Bar Trump From Security Briefings Nears 100,000 Signatures > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bce7191d-0b1c-47bf-a12e-128d3ef9a9e0&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 29, 2016 12:46 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a press conference at Trump National Doral on July 27, 2016 in Doral, Florida. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a press conference at Trump National Doral on July 27, 2016 in Doral, Florida. Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 29, 2016 12:46 PM UTC Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton [will receive classified security briefings](http://time.com/4429507/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-james-clapper-intelligence-briefings/?iid=sr-link1) in the coming weeks, but not everyone thinks that’s a good idea. [A petition](http://act.credoaction.com/sign/trump%5Fbriefings/) to prevent Trump from receiving the intelligence briefings had garnered more than 97,000 signatures as of Friday morning. The petition responds to Trump’s recent call for [Russia to spy on Clinton’s emails](http://time.com/4426272/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-russia-emails/?xid=tcoshare). “It’s hard to imagine that a presidential candidate who has possibly violated federal law, by asking a hostile government to spy on a former secretary of state, should be eligible to receive briefings. It would be irresponsible and dangerous for \[Director of National Intelligence James\] Clapper to provide them,” the petition says. Some members of Congress agree. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid [told the Huffington Post](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harry-reid-trump-fake-briefings%5Fus%5F57991916e4b01180b5317f6e), “I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous.” Still, while some worry about classified intel in Trump’s hands, others question Clinton’s ability after the scandal that erupted from her using a private email server while Secretary of State. After FBI Director James Comey revealed in July that the FBI found classified information on Clinton’s private server, people [started petitions](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-hillary-clintons-security-clearance-and-cease-providing-hillary-clinton-customary-intelligence-briefings) hoping to bar her from the briefings. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan also weighed in, saying, “I think the DNI, Clapper, should deny Hillary Clinton access to classified information during this campaign given how she so recklessly handled classified information.” Clapper [rejected the ideas behind both petitions](http://time.com/4429507/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-james-clapper-intelligence-briefings/?iid=sr-link1) Thursday, saying there isn’t any hesitation in the intelligence community about briefing the candidates. “There’s a long tradition that the intelligence community at the appropriate time—and now is the appropriate time since both candidates have been officially anointed—that both camps will be reached out to and offered briefings,” Clapper said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4430359/donald-trump-intelligence-briefing-petition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4430359/donald-trump-intelligence-briefing-petition/"},"headline":"Petition to Bar Trump From Security Briefings Nears 100,000 Signatures","datePublished":"2016-07-29T12:46:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:48.747Z","description":"Not everyone's happy with Hillary Clinton getting them, either","url":"https://time.com/4430359/donald-trump-intelligence-briefing-petition/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4aa0566afc30ac18/69889fcd524fc0d2fedf8ee2/donald-trump-russia-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4aa0566afc30ac18/69889fcd524fc0d2fedf8ee2/donald-trump-russia-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Miami Press Conference","caption":"Donald Trump Miami Press Conference","creditText":"Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4430359/donald-trump-intelligence-briefing-petition/","name":"Petition to Bar Trump From Security Briefings Nears 100,000 Signatures"}}]}] ```