US President fired Chris Krebs in a Twitter tweet: "There were huge election scams" • The tweet was marked as "controversial" • Krebs responded: "Proud to serve"
Donald Trump, President of the United States, fired tonight (Wednesday) the head of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency Chris Krebs through a tweet he posted on his Twitter account.
Trump accused Krebs without substantiation that the agency's statement from the weekend that there were no irregularities in the presidential election "was very inaccurate."
Trump: "It's cheating, we won the legal votes" // Photo: Reuters
The US president wrote on Twitter that "there were huge election frauds - including dead people voting, observers not allowed to go to the polls, malfunctions in the voting machines that passed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting and many other things."
He added that due to all this, "Chris Krebs will end his role as director of the agency immediately".
Twitter marked the tweet on the grounds that "this claim about the election fraud is controversial."
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the presidential election two weeks ago was fake, and he even refused to admit victory to his rival, Democrat Joe Biden.
His campaign has filed several lawsuits in key states, though senior Republican and Democrat officials have said they have seen no evidence of significant irregularities.
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 .. .
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2020
Krebs' work on defending the election from hackers and his struggle with misleading information about their results has won praise from legislators from both parties and from various political and security figures across the United States.
His actions, however, angered Trump and his supporters, who were outraged at his refusal to support various allegations of election fraud.
Reuters reported last week that Krebs, who had been appointed to the post since the agency was set up about two years ago, told associates he was expecting his dismissal.
It was further reported that Krebs had not been notified in advance of the US president's plan for Petro, and that he had revealed this through Trump's Twitter tweet.
Due to the dismissals, Matthew Travis, Krebs' deputy, also resigned.
Brandon Wales, a senior at the agency, is expected to be Krebs' replacement.
After his dismissal, Krebs responded on his Twitter account to Trump's message: "Proud to serve. We did it right. Defend today, secure tomorrow."
One of Biden's spokesmen commented on the dismissal: "Krebs should be complimented on his service in defending the election, not fired for telling the truth."
Honored to serve.
We did it right.
Defend Today, Secure Tomrorow.
# Protect2020
- Chris Krebs (@C_C_Krebs) November 18, 2020