The executive order also targets Hillary Clinton and Antony Blinken, former state secretaries, and some Republicans.
US President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearance of his predecessor, Joe Biden, in a sweeping move that also targeted former Vice President Kamala Harris and several senior former White House and national security officials.
“I hereby direct every executive department and agency head … to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals,” Trump said in his memorandum on Friday.
Trump’s latest executive action is seen as part of a pattern of reprisal that he has carried out targeting political opponents, including Biden and other former senior White House officials, who traditionally retain their security clearance as a courtesy.
Aside from Biden and Harris, the list of names stripped of their authorisation to see state secrets included Biden’s family members along with former secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state and defeated presidential candidate, was also on the list.
In the memorandum sent to agency heads and distributed by the White House communications office, Trump said the named officials should no longer be allowed access to classified material.
“I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.”
The Trump-Biden feud
Trump, who continues to falsely claim that Biden schemed to steal the 2020 election, which he lost, has remained furious with his predecessor and lashes out frequently.
In 2021, Biden had revoked the security clearance for Trump, who was then a former president.
Trump was himself investigated for breaching security rules during the period between his first and second term in office, by storing classified White House documents in his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The investigation was wound up after Trump returned to office.
Many of the individuals on Trump’s list were high-profile political appointees of his Democratic predecessor, but former Republican lawmaker and vocal Trump critic Liz Cheney is also named.
Fiona Hill, a British-born intelligence analyst who served under both Democrat and Republican administrations, including as an adviser in Trump’s White House, has also been targeted.
She is joined by former colleague Alexander Vindman, a Kyiv-born retired senior officer in the US Army who fell foul of Trump after expressing concerns about White House contacts with Russia.
Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer in Washington who represents whistleblowers, and Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican lawmaker who is a sharp Trump critic, were also included in the list.
