Trump Fires Cybersecurity Official Who Debunked His Fraud Myths

Chris Krebs

Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

Photo by Donna Burton/ US Customs and Border Protection

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump announced that he is firing Chris Krebs, the top official overseeing cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, for openly disputing his claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Krebs, echoing many independent experts as well as state and local officials, has been clear that there was not widespread voter fraud or technical glitches affecting the results of the 2020 presidential election, as Trump has claimed. Without calling out the president directly, Krebs' assessment of the situation from within the administration stood as a notable rebuke to Trump's disinformation campaign.


So it was widely believed Krebs' position was at risk. Trump confirmed those suspicions and reports Tuesday on Twitter with a stream of false claims:


The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which Krebs has been leading, directly addressed these kinds of claims in a recent statement, saying:

The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result.

"When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.

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