President Trump has fired a top DHS official whose agency has been publicly contradicting doubts over election integrity since at least October.
Chris Krebs, who ran the cyber arm of the Department of Homeland Security, was fired over ‘highly inaccurate’ statements regarding election fraud, according to a Tuesday evening tweet from the president.
“The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud – including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, “glitches” in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more,” he wrote, adding “Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”
…votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2020
On Saturday, Krebs called on the public to ignore “wild and baseless claims…even if they’re made by the president” regarding the election – while reportedly telling associates that he expected to be fired.
Krebs’ agency developed a “rumor control initiative” to, as the New York Times describes it “keep Americans from doubting the integrity of the election system.”
In the West Wing, Mr. Krebs’s agency is regarded as a deep-state stronghold, an antagonist that has contradicted Mr. Trump’s false claims that fraud was rampant, software mistakes were vast and the election was stolen. It did not help that as Mr. Krebs gave speeches and interviews around the country about election security, he rarely, if ever, mentioned Mr. Trump’s name. –NYT
