"Joe, you're fired"

Trump wants to revoke Biden’s security clearance

(Bild: AFP/Getty Images/Kevin Dietsch)

US President Donald Trump is withdrawing his predecessor's access to classified information. He will revoke his security clearance, which allows him to do so even after he leaves office, and stop his daily intelligence briefings. 

"We are immediately revoking Joe Biden's security clearance and stopping his daily intelligence briefings," Trump said on his own online service Truth Social. "Joe, you're fired," he added in capital letters.

"There is no need for Joe Biden to continue to have access to classified information," Trump wrote in his mouthpiece. For example, the Democrat should no longer receive daily intelligence briefings. Trump justified the move by saying that Biden had also withdrawn his access to certain national security information after he took office in 2021. At the time, Biden cited Trump's "erratic behavior" as the reason. Normally, former presidents continue to have a certain level of security clearance.

The US president's posting:

Trump apparently wants revenge
Trump also justified his decision with the report by special investigator Robert Hur, who had investigated Biden's document affair. Hur had spoken to the then president for several hours over two days. The exchange served as an important basis for Hur's report, which in the end did not find criminal charges against Biden justified, but described the Democrat as a "well-meaning older man with a bad memory". Among other things, this led to questions about Biden's suitability for the presidency.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Ting Shen)

Hur's report had shown that Biden could not be trusted with sensitive information, Trump continued. "I will always protect our national security," said the Republican. He added in capital letters: "Joe, you're fired."

However, Trump himself was also involved in a document affair: The Republican is alleged to have unlawfully stored sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after his first term in office (2017-21). Under Biden, then Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special prosecutor Jack Smith to investigate Trump's handling of the classified documents and his attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. After Trump's election victory on November 5, the two criminal proceedings against Trump were dropped. Smith justified this with the custom that the Department of Justice does not investigate sitting presidents - he himself left the department.

The fact that he has now also dismissed the head of the National Archives, Colleen Shogan, according to the Presidential Personnel Office, could be linked to Trump's document affair. The move is in line with a promise made by the Republican before he took office on January 20. The chief archivist is responsible for overseeing government documents. Trump had repeatedly criticized the agency after it alerted the Department of Justice to Trump's handling of classified documents in early 2022. The FBI eventually searched Trump's property in Florida. In this context, charges were then brought against the then ex-president.