In the wake of the Trump administration’s decision today to revoke numerous security clearances, including those of former top Biden administration officials and Whistleblower Aid’s co-founder Mark Zaid, Libby Liu, Whistleblower Aid’s President and CEO, issued the following statement:

“There is absolutely no justification for the administration’s actions other than the president’s unconstitutional desire to use the power of his office for what he calls ‘retribution’. Today’s announcement by the Director of National Security, acting at the president’s behest, brings the administration to a new low of lawlessness and revenge. Our government is borrowing from an authoritarian playbook used by the worst regimes around the world.

“President Trump’s animus against Mark Zaid appears to be fueled by Mark’s role in representing a national security whistleblower who, in 2019, revealed the president’s attempt to blackmail Ukraine. Representing whistleblowers, though, is what Mark does – and what he has done under every presidential administration since Bill Clinton without fear or favor. 

“He has done nothing to betray the trust that comes with the security clearance he has held for decades. Revoking it is the very definition of weaponizing the power of government against its citizens. This action will do nothing to deter Mark, or the rest of us, from our mission of exposing wrongdoing and holding powerful bad actors to account. It only makes our work more urgent and necessary.”