President Trump has revoked security clearances for several past political opponents, including Joe Biden, members of the Biden family, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Rep. Liz Cheney, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In a directive issued Friday, Trump instructed executive departments and agencies to take all necessary steps to revoke security clearances for these individuals and to “immediately rescind their access to classified information.”
“I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals,” Trump stated in a memo.
The directive also applies to former GOP Representatives Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and former U.S. Army Colonel Alexander Vindman. Additional names on the list include attorneys Norman Eisen and Mark Zaid, former Trump national security official Fiona Hill, and former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. Many of these figures were involved in political and legal battles against Trump during his first term and the years between his presidencies.
Blinken and Sullivan, who served as top national security officials under Biden, played key roles in a foreign policy marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the regional war involving Israel following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack. Just before the attack, Sullivan had claimed the Middle East was experiencing its most peaceful period in two decades. Blinken was also behind the letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials that sought to cast doubt on the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election, suggesting it resembled Russian disinformation.
