Trump Revokes Security Clearances of Blinken, Sullivan, Brennan, Clapper, and Biden at CPAC

President Trump used his CPAC address in February 2025 to announce that he had revoked the security clearances of former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, former CIA Director John Brennan, former DNI James Clapper, and former President Joe Biden himself. “They’ll no longer be allowed to access state secrets while selling themselves all around the world,” Trump declared. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller opened with a catalogue of the administration’s achievements, and Trump also recognized Hamas hostage survivors present in the audience, attacked MSNBC’s ratings, and pledged zero tolerance for Social Security fraud.

Miller’s Opening Salvo

Stephen Miller set the tone with a rapid-fire enumeration of the administration’s agenda that functioned as a rallying cry for the CPAC audience.

“The most exciting of all is the fact that every single day, the entire White House staff, the entire administration, the entire cabinet on behalf of President Trump and his extraordinary leadership is getting the lies out of our schools, the men out of women’s sports, the poison out of our foods, the woke out of our military, the predators off our streets, and the illegal aliens the hell out of our country,” Miller said.

The six-part construction covered education, gender policy, food safety, military culture, crime, and immigration in a single sentence. Each element corresponded to a specific executive order or policy initiative that the administration had implemented in its first month. The cadence — building from “lies” to “men” to “poison” to “woke” to “predators” to “illegal aliens” — escalated in intensity and culminated in the crowd-pleasing closer. For the CPAC audience, it was a confirmation that the administration was delivering on every front simultaneously.

Security Clearances Revoked

Trump then delivered the CPAC crowd the announcement they had been waiting for — concrete consequences for the officials he held responsible for the abuses of the Biden era.

“I revoked the security clearances of Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, John Brennan, James Clapper, and every non-patriot who lied to cover up Hunter Biden’s laptop from hell,” Trump said. “We took away their security clearances. They’re not allowed to enter any government building either.”

The list was deliberate. Blinken and Sullivan had been Biden’s top foreign policy officials and had overseen the Afghanistan withdrawal and the Ukraine policy that Trump had repeatedly criticized. Brennan and Clapper were former intelligence community leaders who had signed the infamous letter from 51 former intelligence officials claiming the Hunter Biden laptop had “the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign” — a claim that was subsequently debunked when the laptop was authenticated.

The “every non-patriot who lied to cover up Hunter Biden’s laptop” language went beyond the named individuals to encompass the broader group of former officials who had signed the 51-intelligence-officials letter. The clearance revocations served both a practical purpose — preventing these individuals from accessing classified information — and a symbolic one, stripping them of the status that came with maintaining an active security clearance.

Trump then went further: “I also revoked Joe Biden’s security clearances, the Biden Prime Family security clearances, and they’ll no longer be allowed to access state secrets while selling themselves all around the world.”

The revocation of a former president’s security clearance was unprecedented. Former presidents traditionally retained access to classified briefings as a courtesy, allowing them to provide counsel to their successors if asked. Trump’s decision to end that courtesy for Biden — and to extend the revocation to the “Biden Prime Family” — was an escalation that reflected the depth of the administration’s view that the Biden family had used government access for personal enrichment.

“I do that because this should never be allowed to happen again,” Trump said. “What happened to me in this administration, what happened on J6, what happened on all of the things they did that were so bad should never, ever be allowed to happen again.”

MSNBC and Media Attacks

Trump then delivered the kind of media commentary that CPAC audiences relished, directing his fire at MSNBC in particular.

“MSNBC, which is a threat to democracy actually,” Trump said, turning the network’s own rhetoric against it. “They’re stone cold, but they’re stuttering. They’re all screwed up. They’re all mentally screwed up. They don’t know what — their ratings have gone down the tubes.”

He compared the two networks he most frequently targeted: “I don’t even talk about CNN. CNN is sort of like — I don’t know, they’re pathetic actually. But MSNBC was mean.”

Trump singled out Rachel Maddow: “This Rachel Maddow — what does she have? She’s got nothing. Nothing. She took us to sabbatical where she worked one day a week. They paid her a lot of money. She gets no ratings.”

The media attacks served a dual purpose at CPAC. For the audience, they were entertainment — red meat that drew cheers and laughter. For the broader political conversation, they reinforced the administration’s argument that the media’s credibility had collapsed alongside its ratings. If MSNBC’s audience was shrinking while Trump’s approval was rising, the market was rendering its own verdict on which side was telling the truth.

Hamas Survivors at CPAC

In a shift to solemn terrain, Trump recognized survivors of Hamas captivity who were present at the event.

“We have a ceasefire in Gaza, and we’re joined today by several survivors of the captivity under Hamas, including Noa Argamani and Ilana Gritzewsky,” Trump said as the audience reacted emotionally. “Wow, look at that. How beautiful. What a beautiful group of people.”

Noa Argamani had become one of the most recognizable faces of the October 7 hostage crisis after video of her abduction circulated worldwide. Her rescue by Israeli forces in June 2024 had been a major news event. Ilana Gritzewsky was another released hostage whose ordeal had drawn international attention.

Their presence at CPAC connected the administration’s foreign policy achievements — including the ceasefire Trump had helped negotiate — to the human stories behind the headlines. The survivors’ attendance also underscored the personal diplomacy Trump had conducted with both Israeli and Hamas-affiliated negotiators to secure the release of hostages.

Trump closed the compilation with a declaration aimed at seniors watching at home.

“Under our administration, there will be no tolerance for Social Security fraud,” Trump said. “We will not allow anyone to cheat our seniors, and those who do that will be prosecuted by Pam Bondi and others.”

The promise connected the DOGE findings about tens of millions of dollars in improper Social Security payments to the administration’s law enforcement agenda. Not only would the administration stop the fraud; it would prosecute the perpetrators. The mention of AG Bondi by name signaled that the Justice Department was already engaged on the issue.

For the CPAC audience, the Social Security promise served as an answer to the Democratic attack line that DOGE was coming for seniors’ benefits. Trump was saying the opposite: DOGE was coming for the fraudsters who were stealing from seniors’ benefits. The distinction was politically essential and was reinforced at every opportunity.

Key Takeaways

Trump revoked security clearances of Blinken, Sullivan, Brennan, Clapper, Biden, and “every non-patriot who lied to cover up Hunter Biden’s laptop,” barring them from government buildings.
Miller opened CPAC by cataloguing the agenda: “getting the lies out of our schools, the men out of women’s sports, the poison out of our foods, the woke out of our military, the predators off our streets, and the illegal aliens the hell out of our country.”
Trump called MSNBC “a threat to democracy” and said their hosts were “stuttering” and “mentally screwed up” as their ratings collapsed.
Hamas hostage survivors Noa Argamani and Ilana Gritzewsky were recognized at CPAC, connecting the Gaza ceasefire to the human cost of October 7.
Trump pledged “no tolerance for Social Security fraud” and said cheaters would “be prosecuted by Pam Bondi and others.”