Trump Fired Another Official Who Disagrees With US Presidential Election Fraud

JAKARTA - President of the United States (US) Donald Trump fired a Department of Homeland Security official who rejected Trump's claims about fraud in the 2020 US Presidential Election. Trump announced the dismissal on Twitter.

Quoting CNN, Wednesday November 18, Trump said he was firing Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He linked this to Krebs' statement which said "there is no evidence that any voting system removed or lost votes, altered votes, or entered in any compromised manner."

"Chris Krebs' recent statements about the safety of the 2020 elections are grossly inaccurate, because of massive impropriety and fraud," said Trump, who also repeated another baseless conspiracy theory about the election. The tweet was later tagged by Twitter as "debatable."

A source said that Krebs had learned that he was fired. Krebs responded to Trump's post shortly thereafter, saying: "It's honored to serve. We did it right."

Following Krebs, CISA Deputy Director Matt Travis, the number 2 official at the institution, also resigned. He resigned after the White House made it clear that he would not take over Krebs' leadership at CISA.

In a letter, CISA chief of staff Emily Early told staff that Tuesday was Krebs' last day. He said Trump had appointed Executive Director Brandon Wales as managing director.

"A change in leadership is not a change in mission and it is important that we do not lose focus on the important work we do together on behalf of the American people," the letter said.

Krebs' dismissal underscores the extent to which Trump is willing to punish those who do not align with his views on elections. Since many media outlets said that Joe Biden was chosen as the winner of the 2020 US Presidential Election, Trump has continued to refuse to accept the results. Instead, he encourages the baseless conspiracy that his second term is stolen.

His refusal stance included holding a speech on election night and saying he won the US Presidential Election. He declared victories in several states that were actually still tallying and Trump said his opponents were fraudulent.

In the run-up to the election, Krebs has often tacitly denied Trump's repeated false claims about the ballot. Yet Krebs tried hard not to criticize Trump for spreading lies.

But in the days that followed, Krebs has taken a stronger approach regularly. He said he had carried out a fact check of claims and conspiracy theories brought up by Trump, his allies and supporters across the country.

Krebs is responsible for the widely lauded change to cybersecurity efforts and improves coordination with state and local governments, as CISA's first director. He served as one of the top federal national security officers overseeing an election that all said went very well.

Foreign enemies cannot influence any votes, CISA said. The 2020 election is "the safest election in American history," according to CISA and a broader group of public and private election officials.

Krebs continued to check facts about the President's conspiracy until the final hours of his term. He had previously posted a tweet stating that the electoral system manipulation claims were "either baseless or technically incoherent."

Krebs' dismissal came after some of the most senior civilian officials in the US Department of Defense were replaced by officials deemed loyal to Trunp. Other reports also suggested that Trump's frustration with CIA Director Gina Haspel was growing.