Trump fires top cyber official
SAN FRANCISCO: United States President Donald Trump yesterday fired top cybersecurity official Chris Krebs in a message on Twitter, accusing him without evidence of making a ‘‘highly inaccurate’’ statement affirming the November 3 election was secure and rejecting claims of fraud.
Trump has made debunked allegations that the election was ‘‘rigged’’ and has refused to concede defeat to presidentelect Joe Biden.
His campaign has filed a flurry of lawsuits in battleground states, although election officials in both parties have said they see no evidence of serious irregularities.
Krebs’ work in protecting the election from hackers and combating disinformation about the vote won praise from politicians of both parties as well as state and election officials around the country. But he drew the ire of Trump and his allies, who were irked over his refusal to support allegations of election meddling.
Krebs had told associates he expected to be fired.
Trump said on Twitter Krebs had assured people in a ‘‘highly inaccurate’’ statement that the election had been secure when there were ‘‘massive improprieties and fraud — including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations,’’ and voting machine errors that flipped votes from Trump to Biden.
Dozens of election security experts on Tuesday released a letter saying claims of major hacks were unsubstantiated and absurd on their face.
Twitter slapped warning labels on Trump’s posts, noting: ‘‘This claim about election fraud is disputed.’’
Krebs headed the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency from its inception two years ago.
He angered the White House over a website run by CISA dubbed ‘‘Rumor Control’’ which debunks misinformation about the election, according to the three people familiar with the matter.
Matthew Travis, Krebs’ deputy, resigned earlier yesterday. — Reuters