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SAN FRANCISCO / WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump fired top US cybersecurity official Chris Krebs on Tuesday in a tweet, accusing him without evidence of making a “highly inaccurate” statement that the US elections November 3 were safe and rejecting claims. of widespread fraud.
By Joseph Menn and Christopher Bing
Trump has made discredited accusations that the election was “rigged” and refused to concede defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. His campaign has filed a series of lawsuits in battle states, though election officials from both parties have said they see no evidence of serious wrongdoing.
Reuters reported last week that Krebs, who worked to protect the election from hackers but provoked the ire of the Trump White House for efforts to discredit the disinformation, had told his associates that he expected to be fired.
Trump said on Twitter Tuesday that Krebs had assured people in a “highly inaccurate” statement that the elections had been safe when there were “massive misconduct and fraud, including those killed voting, poll watchers not allowed in the venues. voting “and the voting machine. mistakes that shifted votes from Trump to Biden.
Twitter placed warning labels on Trump’s tweets, noting: “This claim about voter fraud is in dispute.”
Krebs has headed the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency since its inception two years ago.
He enraged the White House over a CISA-run website called “Rumor Control,” which discredits misinformation about the election, according to the three people familiar with the matter.
A CISA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Krebs received no notification of Trump’s plan to fire him Tuesday night, according to a person familiar with the matter, and learned of the decision via Twitter.
Last week’s Reuters report drew a great deal of support from security experts across the country, who praised Krebs for his bipartisan work over the past two years.
The White House’s discontent with Krebs grew over the past year, according to two former US officials, as Trump criticized the security of voting by mail and Krebs’ agency responded by saying it represented a safe way to vote. Voting by mail hit a record this year due to voter concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
‘WE DID IT WELL’
On his own Twitter account, Krebs did not back down, writing: “It is an honor to serve. We did it well. Defend today, secure tomorrow. “
White House officials previously complained about CISA content that rejected numerous false claims about the election, including that Democrats were behind a massive voter fraud scheme. CISA officials refused to remove accurate information.
Among other things, a Krebs associate said the White House was angered by a post rejecting a conspiracy theory that falsely claimed that a supercomputer and intelligence agency program, supposedly called Hammer and Scorecard, could have changed the votes at the national level. There is no such system, according to Krebs, election security experts and former US officials.
Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Trump’s move was quickly criticized by security officials and White House critics.
“Krebs was doing important work defending critical infrastructure and fighting misinformation,” said Harri Hursti, a leading critic of voting machine security. “His firing is very disappointing and appears to be an attempt to undermine the great work that he and others at DHS / CISA have been doing.”
Democrat Adam Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said: “Throughout this election, CISA and Director Krebs have worked diligently to safeguard our elections, provide vital support to state election officials, and locals and inform the American people of what was true and what was not. “
Independent Senator Angus King said Trump was “firing Mr. Krebs simply for doing his job.”
“I hope that President-elect Biden will acknowledge Chris’s contributions and consult with him as the Biden administration charts the future of this critically important agency,” King said.
Senator Ben Sasse, who has been a critic of Trump, was one of the first Republicans to reject the decision. He said in a statement: “Chris Krebs did a very good job, as state election officials across the country will tell you, and obviously he shouldn’t be fired.”
(Reporting by Joseph Menn and Christopher Bing; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Culliford. Edited by Rosalba O’Brien and Peter Cooney)
