WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s intelligence chief is exploring ways to revamp his routine intelligence briefing in order to build his trust in the material and make it more aligned with how he likes to consume information, according to five people with direct knowledge of the discussions.

As part of that effort, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has solicited ideas from current and former intelligence officials about steps she could take to tailor the briefing, known as the President’s Daily Brief, or PDB, to Trump’s policy interests and habits.

One idea that’s been discussed is possibly creating a video version of the PDB that’s made to look and feel like a Fox News broadcast, four of the people with direct knowledge of the discussions said.

Currently, the PDB is a digital document created daily for the president and key Cabinet members and advisers that includes written text, as well as graphics and images. The material that goes into the classified briefing, and how it’s presented, can shape a president’s decision-making.

According to his public schedule, since his inauguration Trump has taken the PDB 14 times, or on average less than once a week, which is less often than his recent predecessors — including himself during his first term. An analysis of their public schedules during that same timeframe — from their inauguration through May during their first year in office — shows that former President Joe Biden received 90 PDBs; Trump received 55; and former President Barack Obama received 63.

The people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions said Gabbard believes that cadence may be a reflection of Trump’s preference for consuming information in a different form than the formal briefing, as well as his distrust of intelligence officials, which stretches back to his first term, when he accused them of spying on his 2016 campaign. They also said that even if the presentation of the PDB changes, the information included would not.

Asked for comment, DNI Press Secretary Olivia Coleman said in a statement,“This so-called ‘reporting’ is laughable, absurd, and flat-out false. In true fake news fashion, NBC is publishing yet another anonymously sourced false story.”

A source familiar with the DNI’s internal deliberations said that during Gabbard’s confirmation process in the Senate, “there was bipartisan consensus that the PDB was in need of serious reform. DNI Gabbard is leading that reform and is ensuring the President receives timely, relevant, objective intelligence reporting.”

In a statement, White House Spokesman Davis Ingle referred to this reporting as “libelous garbage from unnamed sources,” and said, “President Trump has assembled a world-class intelligence team who he is constantly communicating with and receiving real time updates on all pressing national security issues. Ensuring the safety and security of the American people is President Trump’s number one priority.”

It is not unusual for the PDB to be tailored to individual presidents. The PDB’s presentation was adjusted for Trump in his first term to include less text and more pictures and graphics. Gabbard has discussed more extensive changes, according to the people with direct knowledge of the discussions. It’s unclear how far her effort will go, but the people with direct knowledge of it said she has entertained some unconventional ideas.

One idea that has been discussed is to transform the PDB so it mirrors a Fox News broadcast, according to four of the people with direct knowledge of the discussions. Under that concept as it has been discussed, the national intelligence director’s office could hire a Fox News producer to produce it and one of the network’s personalities to present it; Trump, an avid Fox News viewer, could then watch the broadcast PDB whenever he wanted.

A new PDB could include not only graphics and pictures but also maps with animated representations of exploding bombs, similar to a video game, another one of the people with knowledge of the discussions said.

“The problem with Trump is that he doesn’t read,” said another people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions. “He’s on broadcast all the time.”

The people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal deliberations.

U.S. intelligence officials have created videos in the past to present information to presidents, including profiles of world leaders, for instance. Hollywood legend Charlton Heston narrated instructional films about highly classified topics for the Energy Department and the U.S. intelligence and military community. The films included information about nuclear weapons, requiring Heston to hold the highest relevant security clearance possible for at least six years.

Former intelligence officials who worked in the first Trump administration said Trump preferred to be briefed verbally and to ask questions but would not read memos or other lengthy written material.

During Trump’s first term, the PDB evolved into a one-page outline of topics with a set of graphics, presented verbally by an intelligence officer about twice a week, according to a history of presidential briefings by John Helgerson.

To accommodate Trump’s style and preferences, Vice President Mike Pence told the briefers to “lean forward on maps,” according to Helgerson’s book.

But there has not been a broadcast or cable news-style PDB presentation. While the PDB has gone through various transformations under different presidents since it was created in 1946, it has largely been in a written format that was then briefed to the president verbally.

Gabbard has also discussed tailoring some of the content in the PDB to Trump’s interests, such as including more information on economic and trade issues and less routine focus on the war in Ukraine, according to three of the people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions.

Including intelligence on issues the president particularly cares about is not unusual. The PDB for Biden included gender and climate change issues, one of those three people said.

“You shift with the priorities of the administration,” that person said, adding that because of Trump’s distrust of the intelligence community, getting him to embrace the PDB “is a very uphill fight.”

As director of national intelligence, Gabbard oversees and approves the PDB. A large staff of analysts and other employees at the CIA compiles the PDB, creating detailed text, graphics and videos based on the latest intelligence gathered by America’s spy agencies.

NBC News has reported that Gabbard plans to move the office that prepares the PDB from the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to the national intelligence director’s office a few miles away in McLean — apparently to bolster her office’s role in presenting intelligence to the president.

The ODNI would need to expand its staff and acquire digital tools and other infrastructure to assemble the PDB, one of the five people familiar with the discussions said.

If the PDB were to be converted to a video for Trump, it would still most likely be provided in something like its current form to other top administration officials who receive it, that person said.

Because he has been taking the PDB a little less than once a week on average, Trump currently receives a product that one of the people familiar with the PDB discussions described as the “best of” highlights from the past week, in addition to anything new that day.

Discussions about potential changes to the PDB come amid questions about whether Gabbard may politicize the intelligence process, especially after her chief of staff, Joe Kent, asked analysts to revise an assessment on a Venezuelan criminal gang that appeared to undermine Trump’s immigration policy, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

Two senior officials who led the National Intelligence Council were recently fired after the initial intelligence assessment contradicted Trump’s assertions that the Tren de Aragua cartel was operating under the direction of Venezuela’s regime, led by Nicolás Maduro. Trump cited claims about the regime’s purported relationship with the cartel as his rationale for invoking a rarely used 1798 law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport people suspected of being gang members without standard due process.

It’s common for intelligence leaders to put their own staffs in place, but the move concerned congressional Democrats who already questioned some of Gabbard’s efforts to have tighter control over what intelligence reaches Trump.

“Absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the president’s political agenda, rather than truthful and apolitical,” Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

An administration official previously told NBC News that the two officials were fired “because they were unable to provide unbiased intelligence.”

Andrew Cuomo plans to run on a second independent “Fight and Deliver” ballot line in the general election for mayor, regardless of whether he wins the Democratic primary.

“It’s an insurance policy,” a source close to the former governor’s campaign said.

A second ballot line would help Cuomo win more votes if he wins the nomination in the June 24 primary and the left-wing Working Families Party runs a rival Democrat — Zohran Mamdani or Brad Lander — splintering the Democratic vote.

If Mamdani wins the Dem nomination, Cuomo could try to win as an independent candidate, just as incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is attempting to do.

“This November, in addition to securing the Democratic nomination, my campaign will work to build the largest possible coalition and secure the biggest possible mandate,” Cuomo said in a statement Tuesday.

“We will be responsive to those who want to support my candidacy, but who would like an alternate way to do it, by starting the Fight and Deliver Party to appeal to disillusioned Democrats, as well as to independents and Republicans,” he said.

“It’s a smart move,” the source said.

The Cuomo backer said Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa is going to get at least 30% of the vote, and Adams could get at least 10% as an independent candidate.

Cuomo’s rivals threw brickbats at his bid to run on a separate ballot line in the general election.

“Andrew Cuomo is scared. After entering this race with 100% name recognition, he’s run a sloppy and secretive campaign, using ChatGPT to generate fake policy proposals, failing to qualify for matching funds because he can’t follow instructions, and spending most of each week hiding from the press and the public,” said Mamdani, the state Assembly member from Queens and democratic socialist currently polling second behind Cuomo in the primary.

“The MAGA billionaires propping up his sinking effort know his real record: attacking unions, defunding hospitals and public transit, and empowering Republicans in Albany. That’s why they support him. Cuomo is a Democrat in name only, and after the June primary, he won’t even be that,” he said.

Adams, who is foregoing the primary to run on his own independent ballot lines (“EndAntiSemitism” and “Safe&Affordable”) in the general election, also took a swipe at Cuomo.

“Isn’t it strange now that Andrew wants an independent line,” he quipped.

“It doesn’t even seem like he’s running… he’s just going through the motions. Going to churches and tweeting it out.”

Attorney Jim Walden is also running as an independent candidate.

— Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new government task force will consider big changes to America’s intelligence community and examine whether material about the origins of COVID-19 and other topics of public interest should be declassified, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said.

Known as the Director’s Initiatives Group, the panel will study how intelligence agencies can cut costs in line with recent executive orders from President Donald Trump, the department said Tuesday in a statement announcing the creation of the task force.

The group also will examine ways intelligence agencies have become politicized or weaponized, the department said.

Among its other duties, the panel will review efforts to prevent unauthorized disclosures of classified material and examine whether the government should declassify material regarding the origins of COVID-19 and other issues of public interest, including federal efforts to influence online speech and investigations into mysterious health symptoms reported by some U.S. diplomats and government employees that were once dubbed “ Havana syndrome.”

“President Trump promised the American people maximum transparency and accountability,” Gabbard wrote in the statement. “We are committed to executing the president’s vision and focusing the intelligence community on its core mission: ensuring our security by providing the president and policymakers with timely, apolitical, objective, relevant intelligence to inform their decision-making to ensure the safety, security and freedom of the American people.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not specify how the task force would be appointed or when it expects to submit its recommendations to Gabbard.

Gabbard’s announcement comes as the Trump administration has vowed to shake up the nation’s spy services, a longtime target of the president’s criticism. Last week, Trump abruptly fired the four-star general who led the National Security Agency.

The CIA and NSA have offered voluntary resignations to some employees. The CIA also has said it plans to lay off an unknown number of recently hired employees. Last week, a federal judge blocked the administration’s efforts to fire some intelligence workers who were assigned to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

ODNI’s task force announcement also comes after top national security officials in the administration, including Gabbard, were criticized for using the popular messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive military plans — with a journalist on the text chain. Gabbard later called the incident a mistake.

The push to declassify more material, meanwhile, comes after the Trump administration released thousands of previously withheld documents about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

___

WASHINGTON (AP) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired two veteran intelligence officials because they oppose President Donald Trump, her office said, coming a week after the release of a declassified memo written by their agency that contradicted statements the Trump administration has used to justify deporting Venezuelan immigrants.

Mike Collins was serving as acting chair of the National Intelligence Council before he was dismissed alongside his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof. They each had more than 25 years of intelligence experience. The two were fired because of their opposition to Trump, Gabbard’s office said in an email, without offering examples.

“The director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community,” the office said.

READ MORE: DOJ asks Supreme Court to end temporary legal protections for 350,000 Venezuelan migrants

The firings, which were first reported by Fox News Digital, follow the release of a declassified memo from the National Intelligence Council that found no coordination between Venezuela’s government and the Tren de Aragua gang. The Trump administration had given that as reasoning for invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan immigrants. The intelligence assessment was released in response to an open records request.

While it’s not uncommon for new administrations to replace senior officials with their own picks, the firings of two respected intelligence officials who had served presidents of both parties prompted concern from Democrats. U.S. Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he’s seen no details to explain the dismissals.

“Absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the President’s political agenda, rather than truthful and apolitical,” Himes said in a statement.

WATCH: Gabbard calls Signal chats a ‘mistake’ as Trump officials face House Intelligence Committee

Though it’s not widely known to the public, the National Intelligence Council plays a key role in the nation’s spy services, helping combine intelligence gathered from different agencies into comprehensive assessments used by the White House and senior national security officials.

Collins was considered one of the intelligence service’s top authorities on East Asia. Langan-Riekhof has served as a senior analyst and director of the CIA’s Strategic Insight Department and is an expert on the Middle East.

Attempts to reach both were unsuccessful Wednesday. The CIA declined to comment publicly, citing personnel matters.

Gabbard also is consolidating some of the intelligence community’s key operations, moving some offices now located at the CIA to ODNI buildings, her office said. They include the National Intelligence Council as well as the staff who prepare the President’s Daily Brief, the report to the president that contains the most important intelligence and national security information.

The move will give Gabbard more direct control over the brief. While the brief is already ODNI’s responsibility, the CIA has long played a significant role in its preparation, providing physical infrastructure and staffing that will have to be moved to ODNI or re-created.

Gabbard oversees and coordinates the work of 18 federal intelligence agencies. She has worked to reshape the intelligence community — eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs under Trump’s orders and creating a task force to examine ways to cut costs and consider whether to declassify material relating to COVID-19 and other topics.

Gabbard also has vowed to investigate intelligence leaks and end what she said was the misuse of intelligence for political aims.

The Espionage Act, the law that often has been used in criminal cases involving leaks or mishandling of classified information, contains a provision making it crime to disclose national defense secrets “through gross negligence.”

The law does not require that the information be classified, because it was written before the classification system existed. The law refers simply to “national defense information.”

The specific provision reads: “(e) whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, note, or information, relating to the national defense, through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be list, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.”

Brad Moss, an attorney whose practice is devoted to issues of security clearances and classified information, said that is “the most reasonably applicable provision from the Espionage Act both for Secretary Hegseth and for national security adviser Waltz,” referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top Trump aide Mike Waltz, who took part in a high-level group chat onYemen strike plans that inadvertently included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief.

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