Trump fires top Election Security Official who insists there is no evidence of widespread electoral fraud

President Trump on Tuesday said in a tweet that Chris Krebs, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director, has been “terminated.” The president, who has continued to refuse to accept that he lost the election, said a recent statement by Krebs, in which he called the Nov. 3 election “the most secure in American history,” was “highly inaccurate.” There is no evidence to back Trump’s claims.

Krebs, head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within the Department of Homeland Security, signaled last week that he expected to be terminated.

“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,” Trump tweeted, again making claims that have repeatedly been rejected by courts. “Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”

A committee within CISA, which worked on protecting U.S. voting systems in the 2020 election, released a firmly worded statement Thursday calling the Nov. 3 elections “the most secure in American history” and contradicting any claims of widespread voter fraud.

“There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” the committee members wrote. “While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”

After the CISA release went out, Krebs retweeted an election law expert who called out Trump for spreading misinformation.

“Please don’t retweet wild and baseless claims about voting machines, even if they’re made by the president. These fantasies have been debunked many times,” wrote David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, adding a link to a CISA Web page called Rumor Control that seeks to correct misinformation about voting in U.S. elections.

Earlier Tuesday, before Trump announced his firing, Krebs responded to allegations of computer fraud manipulating the election results, quoting a letter from election security experts that calls the claims “unsubstantiated” or “technically incoherent.” (Source: Washington Post)