Ousted cybersecurity chief Krebs to Trump: ‘These constant attacks … are very dangerous’
Former top cybersecurity official Chris Krebs sent a clear message to President Donald Trump on Friday: Stop attacking the integrity of last month’s election because American democracy is fragile.
“I’d tell him the same thing that we kind of adopted as our mantra,” Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.” “Not necessarily our official mantra, but it’s ‘defend democracy.'”
“There are things more important than a four-year term,” Krebs continued. “This American experiment, and democracy in general, is fragile. You’ve got to care for it. You’ve got to nurture it. And these constant attacks and undermining confidence are very dangerous. And you know, I don’t know what’s next, but we’ve got to make sure that we continue providing support to democracy.”
Krebs’ outgoing message for his former boss comes after Trump fired him via tweet last month, and as the President has continued to make baseless claims of voter fraud in the weeks since the election.
Krebs’ firing on November 17 was the culmination of two weeks of Krebs and CISA debunking claims by the President and his supporters. CISA has continued to push back since Krebs was fired, with two more posts this week on its “Rumor Control” page disputing claims about ballots being destroyed and voting systems being manipulated.
Krebs has personally been a target of some Trump allies’ ire. Joe diGenova, an attorney for Trump’s campaign, issued a call for violence against Krebs on Monday during an appearance on “The Howie Carr Show.”
“Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity. That guy is a Class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot,” diGenova said.
When asked what his legal team was doing in response to the threat, Krebs said Friday that “we’re looking and evaluating all the options available to us, whether it’s state or federal. We’ll talk in court.”
Krebs continued to combat voting disinformation on Friday, urging Georgia residents of all political stripes to vote in the upcoming January 5 runoff election. Some Republicans have encouraged voters in their own party to sit the election out in protest of unsubstantiated fraud issues.
“Get out and vote January 5, the runoff — whether you vote early or vote on the day of the runoff, vote,” Krebs said, urging voters to check the instructions and information on their ballots. “There are security measures built into the process before, during, and after to ensure the security of the votes,” he continued. “These claims of wild algorithms and malicious software and foreign powers manipulating, it’s just, it’s nonsense. There are measures in place. Have confidence.”
Looking ahead, Krebs also said that while he had not been contacted by President-elect Joe Biden’s team to potentially join the campaign, he would consider a position in the new administration.
“I haven’t had any formal conversations with the transition team about coming back in — I think it’s up to them to decide the team they want,” Krebs said, adding that “if President-elect Biden asked me to join … I’ve said this before, but any time the leader of the free world asks you to be a part of the team, you’ve got to take a serious look at it.”
