U.S. President Donald Trump announced Saturday the rescission of security clearances for former President Joe Biden, previously defeated challengers Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, among others.
Trump said in the presidential memo that it was “no longer in the national interest” for the individuals affected to access classified information.
Neither Biden nor “any other member of [his] family” were to retain their security clearances, according to the memo.
Trump said Monday that Biden’s son Hunter’s security detail comprised up to 18 people and that Hunter was “currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned.” He added that Biden’s daughter Ashley would also be stripped of her 13-strong security detail.
Trump had announced the revocation of Biden’s security clearance in a Feb. 7 social media post, adding that Biden “set this precedent in 2021” by revoking Trump’s access to intelligence briefings, “a courtesy provided to former Presidents.”
Biden revoked Trump’s access to intelligence briefings in February 2021, citing Trump’s “erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection” in a CBS News interview.
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former Republican legislators Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, former Trump European and Russian affairs assistant Fiona Hill, former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, are among individuals affected by the presidential action. (RELATED: Trump Revokes Security Clearances, Denies Access To Federal Buildings To Slew Of Former, Current Officials)
Kinzinger appeared to mock the presidential action against him, saying he never had security clearance.
“So I woke up to MAGA being super angry that I don’t have a security clearance and that Trump’s thing meant nothing to me,” he said in a video statement. “Haha, what else you got, guys? You know, strip my World War II badges? You know, strip my Vietnam combat status? Good one!”
Others affected are New York State Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, attorneys Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, and Andrew Weissmann; and Alexander Vindman — an army veteran and former director in the first Trump administration’s National Security Council.
Reacting to Trump’s decision, Vindman said, “I’m not a weak-kneed billionaire or a massive spineless law firm, so I don’t care what noises @realDonaldTrump makes about a security clearance that hasn’t been active for five years. What’s the point of having throw-away money if you can be easily bullied by an empty suit?”
Vindman in his statement appeared to allude to the decision by the multinational law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP to provide pro bono legal services worth $40 million to the Trump administration’s initiatives, a decision that led to Trump rescinding an executive order targeting the firm.
The firm’s decision has attracted criticism — including from Zaid, who said, “There are many of us,” he said, “who will not be bullied or intimidated, notwithstanding the continuing attacks on lawyers.”
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