President Trump Fires Top Cybersecurity Official Christopher Krebs

President Trump announced on Twitter on Tuesday night that he's firing top cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, whose agency recently issued a statement that the 2020 presidential election was secure. Until now, Krebs was the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security. 

Tuesday, November 17th 2020, 9:00 pm

By: CBS News


President Trump announced on Twitter on Tuesday night that he's firing top cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, whose agency recently issued a statement that the 2020 presidential election was secure. Until now, Krebs was the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security. 

Mr. Trump claimed, falsely and with no evidence, that a statement from Krebs' CISA calling the 2020 election the most secure in history was "highly inaccurate." Mr. Trump's legal team has failed thus far to present credible evidence of mass fraud, and Joe Biden is the president-elect. 

"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," the president tweeted. "Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency."

Krebs took on the role of director of the CISA in November 2018. 

Mr. Trump's ire was sparked by a statement that declared 2020 the most secure election in history, contradicting the president's baseless conspiracy theories about mass fraud. 

"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," the statement said, adding, "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."

First published on November 17, 2020 / 7:39 PM

© 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



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