US President Joe Biden said on Friday that his predecessor Donald Trump, who is awaiting a Senate impeachment trial on charges of inciting an attack on the US Capitol, should not receive classified intelligence briefings, as is customary for former presidents.

“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings. What value in giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?” Biden said. The new Democratic leader cited  Trump’s “erratic behaviour unrelated to the insurrection” of January 6, when he is accused of encouraging his supporters to smash their way into Congress. Trump insisted that the election had been stolen from him, despite overwhelming evidence that it had not.