Trump Abruptly Fires Top Cybersecurity Official For Debunking Election Fraud Conspiracy Theories

President Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday night that Christopher Krebs, the head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, had been fired effective immediately.

Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, had recently clashed with the White House over his agency’s Rumor Control blog, which rebuts a list of false claims of election fraud and hacking — many of which have been touted as real by Trump or his lawyers after he lost the election this month.

Trump on Tuesday night tweeted that Krebs had put out a statement concerning the election that was “highly inaccurate,” an apparent reference to a joint statement Thursday from CISA, the Election Assistance Commission and groups that represent the chief election officers in every state.

“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. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,” Trump tweeted. Twitter warned users that the president’s “claim about election fraud is disputed.”

…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

Trump has falsely claimed that the election was “rigged” and has failed to provide any evidence to substantiate his claims. Numerous state and federal agencies have pushed back against his claims by saying the election was legitimate.

Krebs has been one of the most vocal government officials debunking baseless claims about election manipulation, particularly addressing a conspiracy theory centered on Dominion Voting Systems machines that the president has pushed.

Hard to find a more respected public servant in the cybersecurity space than Chris Krebs.

His ability to successfully make 2020 a free and fair election inevitably put him in the president’s crosshairs. https://t.co/RJHPtZIWqk

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) November 18, 2020

He fires the guy for telling the truth and refusing to help him steal the election. Enabling this shit is just indefensible. https://t.co/pGVE40KVjz

— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) November 18, 2020

The thing is, Trump makes it abundantly clear here that Krebs was fired directly for his statement instilling confidence in the election. Not for anything else. Makes it harder for Republicans to defend. https://t.co/z1mjnu92v6

— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) November 18, 2020

Trump just fired a DHS official for *not* pushing utterly batshit conspiracy theories. The surreal part is that no one is surprised by this. It’s insanely corrupt. And we all saw it coming. https://t.co/xXNJGF0s7J

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) November 18, 2020

Dictator-wannabe stuff happening: https://t.co/7qmRClOGy3

— Simon Brewer (@SimonStormRider) November 18, 2020