Revenge of the president: Donald Trump tells Joe Biden he's fired as he removes security clearance
8 February 2025, 00:35 | Updated: 8 February 2025, 08:50
President Trump has announced he's "immediately revoking" former President Joe Biden's security clearance.
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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," he said on Truth Social.
"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."
"JOE, YOU'RE FIRED," he added in a nod to his catchphrase on the reality TV show The Apprentice.
The move is the latest in a vengeance tour of Washington that Trump promised during his campaign.
The President has already revoked the security clearance of over four dozen former intelligence officials whom he accused of meddling in the 2020 election in support of Biden.
Trump has taken steps to revoke the security clearances and protections of other top officials linked to the Biden administration since returning to the White House last month.
The Biden office has yet to make any comment.
Biden ended Trump's intelligence briefings after he helped spur efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and incited the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
At the time, he said Trump's "erratic" behaviour 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: "I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings.
"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.