--- title: President Obama Warns About Intelligence on 'The Daily Show' description: Without intelligence briefings, "you are flying blind," Obama said on Monday night's show, in a thinly veiled warning to Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4598778/obama-daily-show-noah-trump/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-13T07:16:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:16:24.260Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Warns About Intelligence on 'The Daily Show' og:description: He offered a thinly veiled warning to Donald Trump og:url: https://time.com/4598778/obama-daily-show-noah-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60066a282501b1b1/6988b2b10b72e370216ec078/gettyimages-627112910.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Warns About Intelligence on 'The Daily Show' twitter:description: He offered a thinly veiled warning to Donald Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60066a282501b1b1/6988b2b10b72e370216ec078/gettyimages-627112910.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama on the _Daily Show_: Without Proper Intelligence 'You Are Flying Blind' by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 13, 2016 7:16 AM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama attends the 94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the Ellipse in President's Park on December 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Barack Obama attends the 94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the Ellipse in President's Park on December 1, 2016 in Washington, DC.Paul Morigi—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 13, 2016 7:16 AM UTC President Barack Obama has offered a thinly veiled warning to President-elect Donald Trump about the importance of [getting regular intelligence briefings](http://time.com/4597376/donald-trump-fox-news-intelligence-cia-russia/). “It doesn’t matter how smart you are, you have to have the best information possible to make the best decision possible,” President Obama said. “If you’re not getting \[the intelligence community’s\] perspective, their detailed perspective, then you are flying blind.” President Obama appeared on the _Daily Show With Trevor Noah_ on Monday, addressing both his own legacy and the possible future of the country under a Trump Administration with the Comedy Central host. Trump has [shunned the daily intelligence briefings](http://time.com/4597376/donald-trump-fox-news-intelligence-cia-russia/) that have been made available for him, telling _Fox News Sunday_ he’s “a smart person” who does not “have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day.” “Every morning ― same words. ‘Sir, nothing has changed. Let’s go over it again.’ I don’t need that,” Trump said. Obama also suggested Trump may change once his presidency begins. “I think the President-elect may say one thing and do another once he’s here because the truth of the matter is, it’s a big complicated world,” he said, before stating the importance of a nonpartisan intelligence-gathering and reporting process. “The message that I’ve sent to every intelligence agency is, I want it straight,” he said. On the subject of Russian interference in the 2016 election, which Trump [vigorously denies](http://time.com/4597694/donald-trump-picks-perilous-russia-intelligence-fight/), President Obama said there was widespread consensus that Russian hackers had breached emails of the Democratic National Committee. “This was not a secret running up to the election,” Obama said. Obama also tried to use the appearance on _The Daily Show_ to urge people to sign up for insurance in the health care marketplace. Noah pointed out the fact that Trump and other Republican leaders are eager to repeal Obamacare, but the President brushed it off as a bit of an empty threat. “It will be interesting to watch Republicans, who now actually have to produce, come up with a replacement that works better,” Obama said. “I don’t think they will.” The wide-ranging interview ran on Comedy Central on Monday evening. It was the first interview Obama has held with the mixed-raced South African Noah — similarities the comedian-presenter pointed out during the interview. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4598778/obama-daily-show-noah-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4598778/obama-daily-show-noah-trump/"},"headline":"President Obama on the Daily Show: Without Proper Intelligence 'You Are Flying Blind'","datePublished":"2016-12-13T07:16:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:16:24.260Z","description":"The President stressed the importance of getting the intelligence community's 'detailed perspective'","url":"https://time.com/4598778/obama-daily-show-noah-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election topic","Barack Obama","White House","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60066a282501b1b1/6988b2b10b72e370216ec078/gettyimages-627112910.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60066a282501b1b1/6988b2b10b72e370216ec078/gettyimages-627112910.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony","caption":"94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony","creditText":"Paul Morigi—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":"https://time.com/4598778/obama-daily-show-noah-trump/","name":"President Obama on the Daily Show: Without Proper Intelligence 'You Are Flying Blind'"}}]}] ```