Trump fires official who rejected conspiracy theories about election fraud
What's the story
In his quest to convince everyone that Joe Biden won United States Presidential Elections only because of fraud, incumbent President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired an official, whom he had appointed. Christopher Krebs, the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), was terminated in an unceremonious manner — Trump fired him via a tweet. He claimed Krebs's statements about elections were "inaccurate."
Background
Why has Trump not conceded defeat yet?
Despite the results of the November 3 elections being out for days now, Trump has not accepted that Democrat Biden defeated him. He claims a large number of illegal votes were counted that helped the 77-year-old get 290 electoral votes, against his 232. Days ago, Trump tweeted that he won the elections. Unsurprisingly, a large chunk of Republicans don't agree with him.
Krebs
Krebs was appreciated for prepping states for polls
Even as his refusal to vacate the White House was termed embarrassing by President-elect Biden, Trump went ahead and fired Krebs. A former Microsoft executive, Krebs had been praised for preparing states for the humongous challenge of elections. He also set up a "rumor control" website to tackle misinformation. CISA was formed after allegations of Russian interference in 2016 elections had surfaced.
Expectation
Reportedly, Krebs was expecting to be fired
Krebs's firing, though berated by many, was anticipated by him. Last week, The Guardian reported that Krebs is expecting to be terminated. One person told the daily that the White House was angry about a CISA post that rejected a conspiracy theory about votes being flipped. The Trump administration believes a supercomputer and program, apparently named Hammer and Scorecard, could have favored the Democrats.
Statement
Earlier, government officials said 2020 polls were the most secure
Evidently, Trump had been fuming after a group of state, federal, and local election officials directly contradicted his claims by saying that the 2020 elections were the most secure in history. The officials noted that there are many unfounded claims. "We can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should, too," they said.
Tweet
Trump claimed Krebs's inaccurate statements drove the decision
To note, Krebs's removal comes days after Trump terminated the services of Defense Secretary Mark Esper. About Krebs, the outgoing President said, "The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency."
Twitter Post
After being fired, Krebs said, "We did it right"
Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomrorow. #Protect2020
— Chris Krebs (@C_C_Krebs) November 18, 2020
Details
He should not have been fired: Republican Senator
Krebs's exit was slammed by Republican Senator Ben Sasse. He denounced the treatment given to him. "Chris Krebs did a really good job -- as state election officials all across the nation will tell you -- and he obviously should not be fired," he said. And Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Krebs worked hard to safeguard the elections.