New Jersey Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill has introduced legislation that would prohibit officials charged with certain crimes from receiving access to classified information, a move that implicitly targets both New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez and former President Donald Trump, NBC News reported.
Sherrill’s bill titled the GUARD Act (“Guarding the United States Against Reckless Disclosures Act”) would prevent any federal official or candidate for federal office who has been charged with a crime that compromises US national security, including unlawfully retaining classified information, acting as an agent to a foreign power, or obstructing an official proceeding, from accessing classified information.
The bill would also cover the president, vice president, members of Congress, members of the military, and employees of the TSA and Postal Service.
Under the language of the bill, neither Senator Menendez nor Donald Trump would be allowed access to classified information, even though neither has been convicted of a crime or even gone to trial yet.
Rep. Sherrill told NBC News that the indictments alone should prevent Menendez and Trump from seeing classified information.
Rep. Sherrill told NBC News that Donald Trump had a “long history of disclosing secrets to adversaries” and attempting to “hide or destroy information,” yet the intelligence community was still expected to begin briefing him on classified information.
As part of the effort to ensure a smooth transfer of power should the incumbent president be defeated, it is customary for presidential nominees to receive classified briefings from the intelligence community. In early March, the US intelligence agencies confirmed that they would begin providing classified briefings to Trump after he secured the GOP nomination, despite the charges against him.
Sherrill, a former federal prosecutor, said her legislation would be a “remedy” to the problem by making sure that even those under indictment are not permitted “access to state secrets.”
