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President Donald Trump has removed the security clearances from several more of his perceived enemies.
Trump, who had already removed former President Joe Biden’s clearance this week, now added former Secretary of State Antony Blinken to that list, telling The New York Post he had said: “Bad guy. Take away his passes.”
Trump took aim at eight Democrats, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“This is to take away every right they have [revoking security clearances] including they can’t go into [federal] buildings,” he added when speaking to the Post.
The president said they would be given “exactly the same” kind of retribution as Biden faced.
Bragg prosecuted Trump in the hush money case last year, which led to 34 convictions of falsifying business records for the former president, who escaped punishment after his election victory but remains a convicted felon.
Meanwhile, James brought a civil case against the Trump Organization for misleading banks and insurers about the state of their assets.
While the measure by Trump could be seen as symbolic for James and Bragg, they may face problems as they try to enter courthouses, prisons, and other law enforcement facilities, the Post noted.
Attorney Bob Costello testified as a defense witness in the hush money case.
“It’s more an insult and a slap in the face than a real deterrent,” he told the Post.
Other Democrats targeted by Trump include former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Biden Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who worked on the Department of Justice’s response to the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021.
Andrew Weissman, the top prosecutor on former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating the Trump 2016 campaign’s connections to Russia, was also on the list, as is attorney Mark Zaid.
Zaid represented a CIA analyst who was a whistleblower following Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019. Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate Biden by threatening to withhold military aid, leading to Trump’s first impeachment.
In a lengthy statement on X, Zaid said that he’s “honored by President Trump bestowing upon me a Red Badge of Courage, but if he and his partisan minions think this will deter me from holding them accountable to the rule of law, they are sadly mistaken.”
“By existing law, I am entitled to lawful due process, to include being informed why after 25 years of authorized access to classified information, I am suddenly untrustworthy, and I fully expect to be afforded the opportunity,” he said in part, going on to call himself a “non-partisan registered independent.”
Also included in the purge was attorney Norm Eisen, who served as the special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment.
Trump told the Post that he doesn’t “trust” Biden with national security information.
“I don’t trust him. He’s not worthy of trust … To safeguard national security,” said Trump.
But he also told the paper that he has no plans to investigate Biden even as he didn’t neglect to note that Biden didn’t pardon himself while he pardoned his son Hunter and six other members of his family.
“I wouldn’t do it specifically. If something comes up, he’s certainly prime time for investigation. … It’s not good what he did to our country,” Trump told the Post. “I mean, all of this work we’re doing now with getting [unlawful immigrants] out, finding murderers on the street. … all of this that we’re doing is because of him allowing people to come into our country.”
