Access for these individuals to classified information is no longer in the national interest, the US president has said
US President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearances of his former Democratic election rivals Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, as well as of several officials from the previous administration of Joe Biden and members of the former president’s family.
The memorandum, released on Friday, follows Trump’s announcement in February that he is “immediately” rescinding Biden’s access to classified data and stopping the former president’s daily intelligence briefings.
The document formalizes the revocation of the security clearance for Biden, the members of his family, and several other former officials, who had previously been mentioned by the White House in this context.
Among the more than dozen people affected by the measure are former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and two former Republican representatives who were on the House committee investigating Trump’s alleged role in the January 6 Capitol events, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
Trump said in the memorandum that he has “determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information.”
According to the president, he has told the heads of government agencies to take all necessary actions “to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals and to immediately rescind their access to classified information.”
This means that, among other things, Biden, Harris, Clinton and the others will not be able to obtain classified briefings – such as the President’s Daily Brief – or access classified information held by any member of the US intelligence community, the document explained.
They will also be barred from “unescorted access” to secure US government facilities, it added.
Some American news outlets have described the move as an attack by the president on his political opponents.
When announcing his decision to revoke Biden’s security clearance last month, Trump referenced the 2024 report by Special Counsel Robert Hur saying it had revealed that the former president suffers from “poor memory” and, even in his “prime,” could not be trusted with sensitive information.
NBC News reported on Friday that 82-year-old Biden, who had to withdraw from the race for the White House last year amid public concerns over his fitness to hold the office, told top Democrats that he is ready to raise funds, campaign, and do whatever is needed to help the party regain the ground lost to the Republicans during his term.
