Trump Revokes Security Clearances of More Former and Current Officials

(Left) Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference at the Louis J. Lefkowitz State Office Building in New York City on March 21, 2024. (Center) Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 6, 2025. (Right) New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference at the offices of the Attorney General in New York City on Jan. 8, 2025. Michael M. Santiago, Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Feb. 8 revoked security clearances for Antony Blinken, the former secretary of state, and Jake Sullivan, the former national security adviser.

White House officials said Trump also revoked security clearances for former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Monaco helped coordinate the Department of Justice’s response to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, White House officials said. Both James and Bragg led legal cases against Trump.

The actions were first reported by the New York Post.

The move was made a day after Trump revoked the security clearance of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, citing Biden’s decision to revoke his clearance upon entering office, 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.

As a result, Biden will no longer have access to daily intelligence briefings.

Former presidents have traditionally been afforded courtesy access to classified information at the highest level, as well as 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.

When Biden entered office, he decided to revoke Trump’s access to intelligence briefings, citing the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters entered the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the certification of the Electoral College vote. Trump was later impeached by the House of Representatives and acquitted by the Senate.

Last month, after his inauguration, Trump also revoked the security clearances of his former national security adviser, John Bolton, as well as 49 former national security officials, accusing the officials of engaging in partisan politics for discrediting credible reports about emails found on Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month revoked the personal security detail and security clearance for Mark Milley, a retired Army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley, who served as the top U.S. military officer during a portion of Trump’s first presidential term, became a leading critic of him after retiring as a four-star general in 2023 during the Biden administration.

Reuters and Epoch Times reporter Arjun Singh contributed to this report.