President Donald Trump directed relevant federal agencies to revoke the security clearances of a number of current and former top Democrat officials on Saturday, including former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information," Trump wrote in a memorandum before listing over a dozen individuals along with all members of the Biden family.

The list included "Antony Blinken, Jacob Sullivan, Lisa Monaco, Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Andrew Weissmann, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Cheney, Kamala Harris, Adam Kinzinger, Fiona Hill, Alexander Vindman, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and any other member of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s family."

"I hereby direct every executive department and agency head to take all additional action as necessary and consistent with existing law to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals and to immediately rescind their access to classified information ," Trump continued. "I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals."

Not really news

Further stipulations by Trump were that the named individuals no longer get daily classified briefings or have “unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities.”

Trump had already announced in February that he would revoke Biden's security clearance, and added his family members last week.

Some of the other people on the list had already had their security clearances revoked, but for others it may be the end of their political careers.

For others, NPR noted that they hadn't had active security clearances for years anyway. That outlet seemed to think the move by Trump was typical.

Another take

Other experts had a different take.

Former CIA analyst, national security expert and Brooklyn Law School professor Heidi Gilchrist told Time that she felt there was "a strong argument" that the move by Trump to revoke security clearances of political opponents violated the First Amendment and could be challenged in court.

Presidents do have "broad authority" to revoke or extend security clearances, she admitted.

“Courts generally will not review security clearance decisions, as they just defer to the executive branch in matters of national security,” Gilchrist said. “But this [instance] is not based on any sort of national security expertise or rationale… this could be a clear opening for courts to review clearance decisions which they've stayed away from in the past.”

Is Trump's action a revenge move against his enemies, or a reasonable precaution against individuals who may have misused their security clearances in the past?

Of course, Democrats have jumped to say it's the former, but maybe it's door number three--a protective action to prevent them from using classified information to further harm Trump and Republicans.