US President Donald Trump followed through on his threat to revoke the security clearances of his predecessor, Joe Biden, as well as those of Vice President Kamala Harris and several senior former White House and national security officials.
The list of individuals stripped of their authorization to access classified information included Biden, his family members, Harris, former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
In a memorandum sent to agency heads and distributed by the White House communications office, Trump ordered that these individuals no longer be allowed access to classified material.
“I hereby direct every executive department and agency head… to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals,” Trump wrote. “I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.”
While former US presidents and high-ranking national security officials traditionally retain security clearances as a courtesy, some also use them to seek employment with private contractors. Trump, however, has remained angry at Biden and has continued to make false claims about the 2020 election, which he lost, leading to his frequent attacks on his predecessor.
Trump himself was investigated for mishandling classified materials during the transition between his first and second terms, particularly for storing sensitive White House documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The investigation was closed after Trump returned to office.
Many of the individuals on Trump’s list were high-profile political appointees of Biden’s administration, but the list also includes former Republican lawmaker and vocal Trump critic Liz Cheney. Fiona Hill, a British-born intelligence analyst who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including as an advisor in Trump’s White House, was also targeted. Hill is joined by Alexander Vindman, a retired US Army officer born in Kyiv, who fell out of favor with Trump after raising concerns about White House contacts with Russia.
AFP
