Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in payback move

US President Joe Biden shakes hands with US President-elect Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on Nov. 13, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 08 February 2025
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Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in payback move

  • “JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump said in a social media most stating that Biden "could not be trusted with sensitive information"
  • Trump also removed security details assigned to protect former government officials who have criticized him, including his own former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo

PALM BEACH, Florida: President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s revoking former President Joe Biden’s access to government secrets and ending the daily intelligence briefings he’s receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021.
Trump announced his decision in a post on his social media platform shortly after he arrived at his Mar-a-Lago home and private club in Palm Beach for the weekend.
“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,” Trump wrote. “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.”
The move is the latest in a vengeance tour of Washington that Trump promised during his campaign. He has previously revoked security clearances from more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a “Russian information operation.” He’s also revoked security details assigned to protect former government officials who have criticized him, including his own former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who faces threats from Iran, and former infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Biden didn’t immediately comment on the move.




Donald Trump's post on his Truth Social media platform, announcing his move to revoke former President Joe Biden's access to government secrets.

 

Biden ended Trump’s intelligence briefings after Trump helped spur efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and incited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. At the time, Biden said Trump’s “erratic” behavior should prevent him from getting the intel briefings.
Asked in an interview with CBS News what he feared if Trump continued to receive the briefings, Biden said he did not want to “speculate out loud” but made clear he did not want Trump to continue having access to such information.
“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said. “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
in 2022, federal agents searched Trump’s Florida home and seized boxes of classified records. He was indicted on dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified records and obstructing FBI efforts to get them back. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. A judge dismissed the charges, ruling the special counsel who brought them was illegally appointed, and the Justice Department gave up appeals after Trump was elected in November.
In his post, Trump cited the special counsel report last year into Biden’s handling of classified documents, saying, “The Hur Report revealed that Biden suffers from ‘poor memory’ and, even in his ‘prime,’ could not be trusted with sensitive information.”
He ended his post by saying, “I will always protect our National Security — JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Special counsel Robert Hur investigated Biden’s handling of classified information and found that criminal charges were not warranted but delivered a bitingly critical assessment of his handling of sensitive government records. The report described Biden’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It said Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president.
Trump has the right to end the briefings for Biden because it is a sitting president’s decision on whether a past president should continue to have access to classified information.
Steven Cheung, the president’s communications director, shared Trump’s post on the X social media platform and said, “Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more!”


Two airports in Poland closed due to Russian strikes on Ukraine

Updated 10 sec ago
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Two airports in Poland closed due to Russian strikes on Ukraine

  • Airports in Rzeszow and Lublin ‌have temporarily ‌suspended flight operations
  • Both cities are close to the country’s border with Ukraine
WARSAW: Two airports in southeastern Poland were suspended from operations as a precaution due to Russian strikes on nearby Ukraine territory, Polish authorities said on Saturday.
“In connection with the need to ensure the possibility of the free operation of military aviation, the airports in Rzeszow and Lublin ‌have temporarily ‌suspended flight operations,” ‌Polish Air ⁠Navigation Services Agency ‌posted on X.
Both cities are close to the country’s border with Ukraine, with Rzeszow being NATO’s main hub for arms supplies to Ukraine.
Military aviation had begun operating in Polish airspace due to Russian ⁠strikes on Ukraine, the Operational Command of ‌the Polish Armed Forces said on ‍X.
“These actions are ‍of a preventive nature and ‍are aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, particularly in areas adjacent to the threatened regions,” the army said.
Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 posted on X that the closure involved NATO aircraft operating in the area.
The ⁠US Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice to airmen that both airports were inaccessible due to the military activity related to ensuring state security.
Last month, Rzeszow and Lublin suspended operations for a time, but the authorities said then that the military aviation operations were routine and there had been no threat to ‌Polish airspace.