(CNN) — President Donald Trump, in a late-night Friday memo, directed federal businesses to revoke safety clearances for greater than a dozen of his perceived political enemies, together with former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I’ve decided that it’s not within the nationwide curiosity for the next people to entry labeled data” Trump mentioned within the memo. “I hereby direct each govt division and company head to take all further motion as crucial and in step with current legislation to revoke any lively safety clearances held by the aforementioned people and to right away rescind their entry to labeled data.”
The memo applies to labeled briefings and any entry the people may need needed to labeled data primarily based on earlier tenure in Congress.
The transfer marks the most recent occasion of Trump pulling safety clearances from political rivals, after the president in February mentioned he was “instantly” revoking former President Joe Biden’s safety clearance and stopping his day by day intelligence briefing. He has additionally used related rescissions to crackdown on high legislation corporations.
Friday’s memo formalized the revocation of Biden’s safety clearance, together with a number of others who the Trump administration has beforehand mentioned it eliminated clearances from, and went on to dam the previous president’s household’s entry to labeled data – assuming they’d any.
Along with his Democratic rivals within the 2016 and 2024 election, Trump additionally revoked clearances from the 2 Republicans on the Home committee that investigated his position within the January 6, 2021, rebel, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
Earlier this month Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard mentioned that in accordance with a directive from Trump, she had revoked the safety clearances of quite a few the individuals named in Friday’s memo, together with high Biden officers, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former Nationwide Safety Adviser Jake Sullivan, in addition to two of the attorneys who introduced authorized circumstances in opposition to Trump: New York Legal professional Common Letitia James and Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg.
In one other late-night memo on Friday, Trump revisited previous grudges in opposition to attorneys who’ve opposed him and vowed to punish attorneys and legislation corporations by rescinding safety clearances and canceling federal contracts they maintain.
He directed Legal professional Common Pam Bondi to assessment the conduct of attorneys and legislation corporations the administration considers to have filed frivolous lawsuits in opposition to the Trump administration or tried to dam immigration initiatives, broadening the president’s crackdown on the US authorized neighborhood in the US.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2025 Cable Information Community, Inc., a Time Warner Firm. All rights reserved.