Trump fires Christopher Krebs, top cybersecurity official



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President Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday evening that he was firing senior cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, whose agency recently released a statement that the 2020 presidential election was safe. Until now, Krebs was Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr Trump has argued, wrongly and without evidence, that a Krebs ICAR statement calling the 2020 election the safest in history was “grossly inaccurate.” Mr. Trump’s legal team has so far failed to present credible evidence of mass fraud, and Joe Biden is the president-elect.

“Chris Krebs’ recent statement on the security of the 2020 election was very inaccurate, in that there were massive irregularities and fraud – including voting deaths, ballot observers banned at polling stations. vote, ‘problems’ in the voting machines that have changed. … Trump’s votes for Biden, late vote and many more, “the president tweeted. “Therefore, with immediate effect, Chris Krebs was dismissed as Director of the Agency for Cyber ​​and Infrastructure Security.”

Mr Trump’s anger was sparked by a statement that declared 2020 the safest election in history, contradicting the president’s baseless conspiracy theories of mass fraud.

“The November 3 election was the safest in American history. Right now, election officials across the country are reviewing and rechecking the entire electoral process before finalizing the result,” the statement said. , adding: “There is no evidence that any voting system has suppressed or lost votes, altered votes or has been compromised in any way.”

Shortly after his dismissal, Krebs tweeted, “Honored to serve. We did it well. Defend today, secure Tomrorow.” He updated his Twitter bio to read: “1st Director @CISAgov (former). “Krebs took on the role of CISA director in November 2018, and he was well regarded in his post by Republicans and Democrats, both of whom praised Krebs’ work and denounced the president for his dismissal.

“Christopher Krebs was fired because he did his job to protect our election and resisted Trump’s conspiracy theories,” Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted. “This is a disgusting abuse of power by a weak and desperate president that undermines our democracy and our national security.”

According to Krebs, securing national elections was a quest that transcended the party.

“In my opinion, cybersecurity is apolitical,” he told CBS News Major Garrett on “The takeaway” in August. “So whether it’s a Democrat – a Democratic Secretary of State from California, a Republican Secretary of State from Iowa – we work with everyone. And that has really been a great experience over the past three years. We took a few bumps during and after 2016, but – we really re-engaged in this bipartisan – almost apolitical – partnership of electoral security and making 2020 as safe as possible. “

Arden Farhi and Romello Oliver contributed to this report.



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