On Friday evening, President Donald Trump revoked the security clearances of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and a number of other former US political figures.
Trump justifies the move by saying that it is “no longer in the national interest” for the individuals in question to have access to classified information.
Former US President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearances of several former Democratic political opponents, including Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, as well as people linked to Joe Biden’s administration and family. This is according to a memorandum published on Friday, May 24.
The decision follows Trump’s statement in February that he would “immediately” withdraw Joe Biden’s access to classified information and stop the former president’s daily intelligence briefings. The document now formalizes the revocation of security clearances for Biden, as well as his family members and several former officials previously named by the White House in the context.
Among the more than dozen people affected by the action are former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden’s Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and two former Republican members of Congress – Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – who served on the House committee investigating Trump’s alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021 protests and occupation of the Capitol.
BREAKING: President Donald Trump just revoked access to classified information for people such as Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Adam Kinzinger, Joe Biden and others. pic.twitter.com/nm0Jy56zVx
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 22, 2025
Denied “unescorted access” to Government Facilities
In the memorandum, Trump justifies the decision by stating that he has “determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information”.
According to Trump, he has instructed heads of government agencies to take all necessary steps to “revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals and to immediately rescind their access to classified information”.
This means that Biden, Harris, Clinton and others concerned will no longer be able to access classified government information – or access classified information from US intelligence agencies. They will also be prohibited from “unescorted access” to sensitive government facilities, according to the document.
Trump has previously pointed to Joe Biden’s long history of confusion – arguing that even when he was younger and healthier, the ex-president was not fit to be entrusted with sensitive information.
The incumbent’s opponents see the decision as a kind of revenge for the Biden administration revoking Trump’s security clearance after the events at the Capitol in January 2021.