Featured Image Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Topics: Joe Biden, Politics, Donald Trump, US News
Liv Bridge
Topics: Joe Biden, Politics, Donald Trump, US News
Donald Trump has just taken away a major right from Joe Biden that every past president receives, as he 'could not be trusted'.
Trump is on a mission to overhaul most of his predecessor's policies and ignite what he describes as 'the golden age of America' under his presidency.
Now, in an apparent snub to Biden, Trump says he is revoking the former president's security clearance and access to daily intelligence briefings, claiming that he can't 'be trusted'.
He wrote on his Truth Social platform: "There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information."
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"JOE, YOU'RE FIRED," the Republican added as a joke reference to his former catchphrase on the TV show, The Apprentice, which he has been using a lot lately to clear out some of Biden's former government staff.
Trump's decision comes as he claims Biden had done the same to him when he was in office in 2021 which was the first time an ex-president was blocked from the briefings.
He wrote that Biden 'set this precedent' 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 also claimed Biden 'could not be trusted with sensitive information' while citing an inquiry into the storage of classified files which outlined the 82-year-old had poor memory.
He wrote: "The Hur Report revealed that Biden suffers from “poor memory” and, even in his “prime,” could not be trusted with sensitive information. I will always protect our National Security."
All ex-presidents are invited to classified intelligence briefings as a courtesy but Biden revoked Trump back in 2021.
Biden said Trump's 'erratic behaviour' was the deciding factor behind the move, adding: "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?"
Trump has also removed security clearance for dozens of other former intelligence officers, including ex-CIA directors, many of whom he had accused of meddling in the 2020 election in favour of Biden.
Among those removed include top US military commander, Mark Milley, who has been a vocal critic of the president.
The new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has reportedly ordered an investigation into Milley's 'conduct' and for his military grade to be reviewed, the BBC reports.
The former chief medical adviser to the president, Anthony Fauci, has also been revoked from accessing security details. Fauci led the US response to the Coronavirus pandemic but Trump maintained that it was 'very standard' to remove such people from the right.