Trump Moves To Suspend Clearances Of Ex-intel Officials Who Signed Letter On Hunter Biden Laptop

President Donald Trump says his administration will move to suspend the security clearances of the more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a "Russian information operation."

The action is an early indication of Trump's determination to exact retribution on perceived adversaries and is the latest point of tension between Trump and an intelligence community of which he has been openly disdainful. The sweeping move, announced via executive order Monday, also sets up a potential court challenge from ex-officials seeking to maintain access to sensitive government information.

"The president has a lot of authority when it comes to security clearances. The problem the White House will run into is, if they depart from their existing procedures, they could set up a judicial appeal for these 51 people - and it will probably be a class-action suit since they're all in alike or similar circumstances," said Dan Meyer, a Washington lawyer who specializes in the security clearance and background check process.

The executive order targets the clearances of 50 people in all, including the 49 surviving signatories. The list includes prominent officials like James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama and John Brennan, Obama's former CIA director. Also targeted is John Bolton, who was fired as Trump's national security adviser during his first term and later wrote a book whose publication the White House sought to block on grounds that it disclosed national security information.

It was not clear how many of the former officials still maintain security clearances.