By Erica L. Green, Hurubie Meko and Alan Feuer
President Donald Trump will revoke the security clearances of several current law enforcement figures and former national security officials, White House officials confirmed earlier this week.
In an interview with The New York Post published Saturday, Trump said he would withdraw the clearances of former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and others who served in top positions under former President Joe Biden.
The president also said that he would be stripping clearances for Letitia James, the New York attorney general, and Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, both of whom have brought cases against him. James is also leading a group of 19 attorneys general in a lawsuit to stop Trump’s administration from allowing Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative from gaining access to the Treasury Department’s payment and data systems.
The new list of targets is the latest round of retribution Trump has lodged against his perceived political rivals and others who participated in high-profile legal cases against him. For many of those identified, it would be a largely symbolic action, but it could prevent the officials from getting into federal buildings or retrieving classified materials.
Blinken, the highest ranking official targeted, did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump did not provide specifics about what he sought to restrict from the officials. Trump called Blinken, the former secretary of state, a “bad guy” and said he wanted to “take away his passes.” Of others, Trump said his intent was “to take away every right they have.”
Taking questions from reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump confirmed his decision, and denied it was a form of retribution.
“If there are people that we don’t respect, if there are people that we thought that were breaking the law or came very close to it in previous years, we do it,” he said of stripping clearances. “And we’ve done it with some people, we’ve done it with Biden himself.”
Trump’s remarks came on the heels of an announcement in a social media post on Friday that he was revoking Biden’s security clearances as payback to Biden, who did the same to him four years ago. Biden cited Trump’s “erratic behavior” as the basis for his decision, after he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election and incited a riot at the U.S. Capitol to overturn its results. On Friday, Trump accused the former president of setting the precedent in 2021, and cited a special counsel report that questioned Biden’s mental acuity.
“JOE, YOU’RE FIRED,” he wrote on social media.
Among other officials Trump identified in his New York Post interview for revocation were Jake Sullivan, the former national security adviser, and Lisa Monaco, the former deputy attorney general who coordinated the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Trump also targeted Andrew Weissmann, Mark Zaid and Norm Eisen, lawyers who have been outspoken critics of Trump.
Some of those on the latest list expressed little concern that Trump’s actions would affect them or their duties.
In a statement, James’ office brushed off the move as “just another attempt to distract from the real work the attorney general is doing to defend the rights of New Yorkers and all Americans.”
“What security clearance?” the statement quipped.
Zaid, in a statement Saturday, said that under existing law, he was entitled to due process, including being informed why he was being targeted after being trusted with classified information for more than 25 years.
“I’m honored by President Trump bestowing upon me a Red Badge of Courage, but if he and his partisan minions think this will deter me from holding them accountable to the rule of law, they are sadly mistaken,” he said.
“This highly politicized action reflects far worse upon the Trump administration than it does me,” he added.
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