US president says ‘no need’ for predecessor to have access to classified information.
United States President Donald Trump has announced that he is revoking former President Joe Biden’s access to intelligence briefings in his latest act of retribution against his rivals.
Trump said on Friday that there was “no need” for Biden to keep his “security clearances” and that he was taking the action in response to his predecessor revoking his access to classified material after he left office.
“He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump also suggested that Biden could not be trusted with sensitive information after special counsel Robert Hur’s report on his predecessor’s handling of classified information described the Democrat’s memory as “fuzzy” and having “significant limitations”.
Hur, who declined to bring charges against Biden, said that the then-president struggled to remember key dates such as the death of his son Beau and his time as vice president.
In a callback to his signature slogan on the reality TV show, The Apprentice, Trump added in capitals: “JOE, YOU’RE FIRED.”
Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, shared Trump’s post of the announcement on X, adding: “Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more!”
Biden did not immediately comment, though some former officials of his administration hit out at the move.
“This will not lower the price of eggs,” Andrew Bates, the former White House senior deputy press secretary, said in a post on X, referring to Trump’s focus on inflation during his election campaign.
US presidents do not require security clearances and have access to classified information by virtue of their position.
Former presidents have traditionally received intelligence briefings as requested, though access is provided at the sole discretion of the incumbent president and there is no formal security clearance process involved.
Shortly after taking office, Biden said that Trump should not have access to intelligence briefings due to his efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, culminating in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said at the time in an interview with CBS News.
“What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
Trump was charged with four criminal counts over his efforts to cancel the results of the vote, including conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy against the rights of citizens, before prosecutors dropped the case along with several other prosecutions he was facing following his re-election.
Trump’s administration has revoked access to intelligence briefings from dozens of critics and rivals since taking office on January 20.
They include Mark Milley, a retired army general who privately described the Republican as “fascist to the core”, and more than 50 former intelligence officials who signed a letter that wrongly suggested that emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop were part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Trump has also cancelled the security details of past colleagues who have fallen out of his favour, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former national security adviser John Bolton.
