former presidents

Muhamad Yehia

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Feb. 7 announced that he was revoking former President Joe Biden’s security clearance and stopping his access to daily intelligence briefings, an entitlement of most former presidents.

Biden, when he took office in 2021, revoked Trump’s access to classified information and daily intelligence briefings, citing the events of Jan. 6, 2021—where Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the certification of the Electoral College vote, for which Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives and later acquitted by the Senate—as his reason.

Trump announced his decision in a social media post on Truth Social, citing Biden’s previous action as well as the report by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who investigated the alleged mishandling of classified information by Biden and issued a report in 2024

“There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings. He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents,” Trump wrote.

Trump previously revoked the security clearances of several former national security officials by executive order on Jan. 20.

Elected officials—such as the president, vice president, and members of Congress—do not require a security clearance to view classified information, a privilege held by virtue of their offices that is limited only to their terms. The president of the United States is the ultimate authority governing all classified information created by the U.S. government and has knowledge of the most sensitive national security secrets—such as details about the country’s nuclear weapons.

As a courtesy, former presidents are afforded access to classified information at the highest level as well as entitled to daily intelligence briefings, which enables them to remain apprised of national security issues and provide the incumbent president with advice as requested.

Few former presidents have requested such briefings, though the late President George H.W. Bush—a former director of Central Intelligence during the Gerald R. Ford administration—was known to do so.

Trump Revokes Biden’s Security Clearance, Bars Him From Intelligence Briefings

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