Trump fires cyber-security chief for saying U.S. election was clean

The President of the United States, Donald Trump has fired the head of the federal agency charged with protecting the 2020 US Election from cyber-attacks, Christopher Krebs, for saying the November 3 presidential election was clean and fair.

Trump took to his verified Twitter handle on Wednesday, November 18, to announce the sacking of Krebs, whom he said was working discretely for the Democratic Party and its candidate, Joe Biden.

In one of his tweets, Trump accused Krebs of issuing a “highly inaccurate” statement when he said the US election was conducted without error.

Krebs, who, until his sacking was the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, was charged with the task of protecting the 2020 election from cyber-attacks in the wake of Russia’s interference with the 2016 election.

Following the stalemated election, Krebs repeatedly insisted that it was clean, free and fair, something Trump sees as an affront on him.

Read also: Trump’s refusal to concede defeat to Biden hurting U.S. security –Kelly, ex-Chief of Staff

On Tuesday, November 17, Krebs had tweeted a report citing 59 election security experts saying there was no credible evidence of computer fraud in the 2020 election outcome.

On Wednesday, Trump played his hand when he tweeted:

“Effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”

In response, Krebs also tweeted:

“Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow. Protect 2020.”

On November 12, Bryan Ware, the assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, had handed in his resignation. Though Ware did not provide details for his action, a US official familiar with the matter told Reuters the White House had asked for Ware’s resignation.

See the tweets:

Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomrorow. #Protect2020

— Chris Krebs (@C_C_Krebs) November 18, 2020

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1328852352787484677

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