Mr. Comey. In general, I think that's right. You want to present to the judge reviewing your application a complete picture of the evidence, both its flaws and its strengths.
Mr. Ratcliffe. What's a defensive briefing?
Mr. Comey. In the counterintelligence world, it's a mechanism by which the FBI will alert somebody to a counterintelligence threat that might tend to defeat the threat.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Are they done for Presidential candidates?
Mr. Comey. Not routinely. What's routinely done for candidates is a general briefing of -- what I meant by "defensive briefing" is it's specific to you and threats we see at you. With candidates, my recollection is we gave a general counterintelligence briefing about the threat coming from different nations.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Do you recall doing that for Secretary Clinton when she was the nominee?
Mr. Comey. I don't. But I assume that someone did.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. Do you know if one was done for candidate Trump?
Mr. Comey. Again, I don't know for sure, but I expect it was done, just as it was done for Secretary Clinton.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Where would I get that information? Who would I ask, since you don't know?
Mr. Comey. Probably the Director of National Intelligence's Office. I have some recollection that they
