Trump says he revoked Joe Biden’s security clearance

The US President called the access ‘a courtesy provided to former presidents’ in a move that follows the precedent set by Biden who had also blocked Trump.

Donald Trump with Joe Biden in January. Picture: Kenny Holston/Press Pool/WSJ

US President Donald Trump said he revoked former President Joe Biden’s security clearance, stating there was no need for the Democrat’s continued access.

Biden’s intelligence briefings will also stop, Trump said on Friday.

Biden set this precedent when he blocked Trump from accessing information related to national security in 2021, the president said on Truth Social.

The ability to continue to access certain information was “a courtesy provided to former presidents,” Trump wrote.

In February 2021, Biden ended Trump’s security briefings saying that he felt there was “no need” for Trump to have access to the secret information. Other former presidents retained their access to the briefings.

“What value is there in giving him an intelligence briefing,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News at the time.

Briefings for former presidents occur at the sole discretion of the sitting president.

Biden at the time cited Trump’s “erratic behaviour” both before and after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by protesters trying to overturn Trump’s election loss.

In his post on Friday, Trump claimed that Biden “could not be trusted” with intelligence briefings because a special counsel’s report into classified documents found at the Democrat’s home found that Biden, 82, suffered from “poor memory.”

Trump was also prosecuted for mishandling classified documents but the Justice Department ended the case after the Republican won the 2024 election.

Dow Jones Newswires, AFP