Tulsi Gabbard Revokes Security Clearances of Biden, Harris, Clinton, Cheney, and More: ‘Per POTUS Directive…’
Story by C. Douglas Golden
In a Friday evening announcement on her social media account, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced she’d revoked the security clearances of the last three Democratic presidential nominees — and plenty of others, to boot.
The move came a little under a week after President Donald Trump issued a memo in which he declared “I have determined it is no longer in the national interest” for multiple officials in the Biden and Obama administrations — as well as several other noted vehemently anti-Trump politicians — “to access classified information.”
While Gabbard didn’t say that every person on the list had been stripped of their access, the biggest names had been, she said in an X post Friday night Eastern Time.
“Per @POTUS directive, I have revoked former President Joe Biden’s security clearance, and revoked clearances and access to classified information for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Fiona Hill, and Alexander Vindman,” she stated.
In addition to their elected and appointed roles, former President Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represent the three Democrats Trump has run against for the White House in three consecutive presidential elections.
Former GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, in addition to being two of the most vocal anti-Trump voices on Capitol Hill, were also members of the Democrats’ Jan. 6 committee — the only two Republicans on it.
Cheney was subsequently defeated in a landslide in a 2022 primary battle; Kinzinger, likely sensing the same fate, declined to run again.
Fiona Hill, and Alexander Vindman, meanwhile, were two of the major figures in Trump’s first impeachment trial, which involved an accusation of an unlawful quid pro quo regarding Ukrainian military funding.
Trump’s initial list also included other officials Gabbard did not say that she had stripped clearance from.
This included former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former national security advisor Jake Sullivan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and the family of Joe Biden.
“This action includes, but is not limited 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,” Trump said in the March 22 order.
“In the event that any of the named individuals received a security clearance by virtue of their employment with a private entity, the United States Government entity that granted the security clearance should inform the private entity that these individuals’ ability to access classified information has been revoked.”
While access to classified information has often been extended as a courtesy to former presidents and administration officials, this tradition was broken with under Biden, who refused to give it to Trump because he said the president demonstrated “erratic behavior” during the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol incursion.
In February, The New York Times reported, Trump had indicated that he would do the same, saying there was “no need” for Biden to continue to receive the briefings.
“Joe, you’re fired. Make America Great Again!” Trump wrote in a social media message.
In both cases, the Times noted, there was “little import” in practical terms.
“Former presidents get episodic briefings partly as a courtesy, and partly because, in times of a more bipartisan spirit, sitting presidents sometimes call former occupants of the office for advice, or to ask about their experience in handling a delicate diplomatic negotiation,” the paper noted. “But there seems to be no chance of Mr. Trump ever calling his predecessor.”
It’s unclear whether Gabbard will continue to announce when further individuals listed in the initial memo have had their clearances stripped, or whether those clearances had already been stripped. As of early Saturday morning, no official press release on the matter was available on the website of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
It’s about time we kicked these has been’s to the curb. I’m not so sure that they aren’t selling intel to our enemies.