President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was firing his top security official, Christopher Krebs, after the agency called the election the most "secure in American history," according to his Twitter. Trump called the statement "highly inaccurate."
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was firing his top security official after the agency called the election the most "secure in American history," according to his Twitter. Trump baselessly called the statement "highly inaccurate" and declared the termination of Christopher Krebs to be "effective immediately."
"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," Trump wrote. "Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency."
The tweets pushed out by Trump were flagged by the platform for promoting an unfounded claim about the election.
Krebs was the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a federal agency created in November 2018 that is an arm of the Department of Homeland Security. The agency's mission is to serve as the country's risk advisor but has become more focused on rebutting the claims of voter fraud and other baseless allegations regarding the security of the election, including information coming out of the White House, NPR reported.
Trump's response comes days after Kreb's agency released a statement on Nov. 12 that “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history" and there was "no evidence" that "any voting system, deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."
In response to his termination from the agency, Krebs wrote on Twitter, "Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure [Tomorrow]."
An official from DHS spoke with NPR on the condition of anonymity regarding Kreb's termination.
"Chris has earned the trust of staff all across the agency," the official said. "He's easily been the most competent and able of any political appointee I've worked with."
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi in an official statement called Krebs a "deeply respected" cybersecurity expert and called the firing "dangerous and shameful charade."
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