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President Trump on Friday night rescinded the security clearances of former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, several members of the Biden administration, and other prominent Democrats.The move comes after Mr. Trump had already announced last month that he was revoking former President Joe Biden’s security clearance. In a memo Friday, the president said he was also rescinding the security clearances of the entire Biden family. Also losing their access to classified information and their security clearances were former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, New York Attorney General Letita James, Manhattan Attorney General Alvin Bragg, former White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, former Rep. Elizabeth Cheney, former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill, former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Norman Eisen, and attorney Mark Zaid, who was a lawyer for the whistleblower who reported concerns about the Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine in his first White House term.Several of those named, including James and Bragg, had already had their clearances revoked earlier this month by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as part of a purge of dozens of clearances for current and former officials.Friday’s memo applies to “receipt of classified briefings, such as the President’s Daily Brief, and access to classified information held by any member of the Intelligence Community by virtue of the named individuals’ previous tenure in the Congress.”
Since taking office in January, the president has revoked the clearances of multiple former officials who he claims “weaponized” either the intelligence community or the law against him.Cheney and Kinzinger helped lead the House select committee investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Bragg brought the New York “hush money” criminal case which resulted in a felony conviction for Mr. Trump on 34 state counts of falsification of business records. James sued Mr. Trump and the Trump organization, accusing them of widespread fraud. The lengthy trial resulted in a judge’s $453 million verdict against Mr. Trump and his former company. Those who had previously had their clearances revoked include retired Gen. Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Trump and Biden administrations and had a public falling out in the final months of Mr. Trump’s first term over the photo op in front of St. John’s Church in June 2020 after federal officers cleared out social justice protesters from Lafayette Park so Mr. Trump could walk to the church from the White House.
Mr. Trump was also critical of Milley’s revelation that he had engaged in two phone calls — one on Oct. 30, 2020, and the second on Jan. 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol insurrection — with Chinese General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army in order to assure him that the U.S. would not launch an attack against China and that the U.S. was stable.On the day of his inauguration, Mr. Trump revoked the clearances of dozens of former intelligence officials who signed a letter in 2020 claiming that emails found on a laptop owned by Biden’s son, Hunter, bore the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.John Bolton, who served as national security adviser during Mr. Trump’s first term, also had his clearance pulled over a book he penned about his time in the role.The president accused Bolton of publishing sensitive information and said the book’s publication “created a grave risk that classified material was publicly exposed.”
Caitlin Yilek,
Melissa Quinn and
Graham Kates
contributed to this report.
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Faris Tanyos
Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
