US President Donald Trump has made good on a threat to revoke the security clearances of his predecessor Joe Biden and several senior former White House and national security officials.
Released on Friday local time, the list of people stripped of their authorisation to see state secrets included Mr Biden, his family members and former vice-president Kamala Harris.
Also on the list were former secretary of state and defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and Mr Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jacob Sullivan.
In a memorandum to agency heads and distributed by the White House communications office, Mr Trump said the named officials should no longer be allowed access to classified material.
“I hereby direct every executive department and agency head … to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals,” he said.
“I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.”
Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are among the individuals stripped of their security clearances. (Reuters: Elizabeth Frantz)
Former US presidents and national security officials traditionally retain a security clearance as a courtesy, and some find it useful in seeking employment with private contractors.
But Mr Trump, who continues to falsely claim that Mr Biden schemed to steal the 2020 election, which Mr Trump lost, has remained furious with his predecessor and lashes out frequently.
Mr Trump was himself investigated for breaching security rules 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 Mr Trump returned to office.
Many of the individuals on Mr Trump’s list were high-profile political appointees of his Democratic predecessor, but former Republican politicians and vocal Trump critic Liz Cheney was also named.
Fiona Hill, a British-born intelligence analyst who served under both Democrat and Republican administrations, including as an adviser in Mr Trump’s White House, was also targeted.
She was joined by former colleague Alexander Vindman, a Kyiv-born retired senior officer in the US Army who fell foul of Mr Trump after expressing concerns about White House contacts with Russia.
AFP