Trump fired the highest-ranking election official in the United States

While in office, Christopher Krebs refuted the president’s allegations of alleged election fraud.

President Donald Trump has fired the country’s highest electoral security official, a highly respected member of his administration who advocated the integrity of the election and dared to refute the president’s baseless allegations of election fraud.

Although sudden, the dismissal on Tuesday 17-N of Christopher Krebs, head of the Agency for Information Security and Infrastructure Security (Cisa, for its acronym in English), did not surprise. Since his electoral defeat, Trump has removed from his administration officials he does not perceive as fair enough and has lashed out at an election process that culminated in a humiliating defeat at the hands of Democrat Joe Biden.

This made Krebs a target. Krebs used the logo of the Department of Homeland Security, of which CISA is a part, to spread over the last week a series of statements and tweets in which he defended the reliability of the elections and criticized the disinformation spread by the President and his supporters, albeit without mentioning the president by name.

After his departure, Krebs defended his statements.

“Honored to have served. We did well, “he said in a short statement posted on Twitter. Defend yourself today. Protect tomorrow.”

He concluded with the sentence: “Protect 2020”, which was his agency’s slogan in the face of the elections.

Large-scale changes

The firing of Krebs, who was nominated for the post by Trump, came a week after the departure of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, as part of a series of large-scale changes to place Trump-loyal officials in high positions. at the Pentagon. .

Krebs, a former Microsoft executive, led the CISA from its creation after Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections until the November 3 elections. It received praise from both sides after CISA coordinated the efforts of local, state and federal authorities to defend electoral systems from any interference, national or foreign.

Hours before his dismissal, Krebs tweeted a report citing 59 electoral security experts who say there is no credible evidence of toll fraud in the 2020 election result.

Trump responded on Twitter. The president reiterated his baseless allegations about the election, writing: “Effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been fired as director of the Information Security and Infrastructure Security Agency.”

Congress members, mostly Democrats, criticized Krebs’ departure.

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Commission, lashed out at Trump for “retaliation against Director Krebs and other officials who have done their duty. It is pathetic, but unfortunately predictable, that defending and protecting our democratic processes is grounds for dismissal.

One of the few Republicans who raised his voice was Senator Ben Sasse, a frequent critic of Trump: “Chris Krebs did a great job, as state election officials across the country will confirm, and of course he shouldn’t have been fired. “.