WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS)US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Nov 17) announced he had fired a Department of Homeland Security official who has publicly refuted the president's unfounded claims about widespread election fraud.
Mr Christopher Krebs, a previous Microsoft Corp executive, was nominated in 2018 by Mr Trump as the first director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, which is known as Cisa.
His agency had declared the Nov 3 election "the most secure in American history."
In a tweet Tuesday evening, Mr Trump said he was finished with Mr Krebs.
"The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraudincluding 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 several more," Mr Trump tweeted.
"Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency," he said.
Twitter included a warning on the tweets saying, "This claim about election fraud is disputed."
Leading up to the election, Mr Krebs used Cisa’s website to debunk claims of voter fraud peddled by the president and his supporters.
He angered the White House over a website run by Cisa dubbed "Rumour Control," which debunks misinformation concerning the election, according to the three people familiar with the matter.
A Cisa spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr Krebs was not given notice of Mr Trump’s plan to fire him on Tuesday evening, according to a person familiar with the matter, and learned of the decision through Twitter.
Cisa Executive Director Brandon Wales is expected to take over for Mr Krebs as the acting head of the agency on Wednesday, an agency official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Mr Wales has served in multiple positions within the DHS under the Trump administration and is not seen as a partisan figure, said a previous colleague.
The Reuters report the previous week prompted an outpouring of support from security experts across the country, who praised Mr Krebs for his bipartisan work in the past two years.
The White House’s displeasure with Mr Krebs grew over the past year, according to two previous US officials, as Mr Trump criticised the security of mail-in voting and Mr Krebs’ agency countered by saying it represented a secure way to vote.
Mail-in balloting reached a record high this year because of voter concerns concerning the coronavirus pandemic.
On his own Twitter account, Mr Krebs did not back down, writing: "Honoured to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow."
White House officials previously complained about Cisa content that pushed back against numerous false claims concerning the election, including that Democrats were behind a mass election fraud scheme.
Cisa officials declined to delete accurate information.
Among other things, one Mr Krebs associate said the White House was angry about a post rejecting a conspiracy theory that falsely claimed an intelligence agency supercomputer and programme, purportedly named Hammer and Scorecard, could have flipped votes nationally.
No such system exists, according to Mr Krebs, election security experts and previous US officials.
A spokesman for President-elect Joe Biden said: "Chris Krebs should be commended for his service in protecting our elections, not fired for telling the truth."
Mr Trump’s move was as well quickly slammed by security officials and White House critics.
"Krebs was doing important work defending critical infrastructure and fighting disinformation," said Mr Harri Hursti, a leading critic of voting machine security.
"His firing is very disappointing and appears to be an attempt to undermine the great work he and others at DHS/CISA have been doing."
Democrat Adam Schiff, who heads the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said: "Throughout this election, the Cisa and Director Krebs have worked diligently to safeguard our elections, provide vital support to state and local election officials, and inform the American people about what was true and what was not."
Independent Senator Angus King said Mr Trump was "firing Mr Krebs for simply doing his job."
"I hope that President-elect Biden will recognise Chris’s contributions, and consult with him as the Biden administration charts the future of this critically important agency," Mr King said.
Senator Ben Sasse, who has been a Mr Trump critic, was among the first Republicans to push back against the decision. He said in a statement: "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."
The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraudincluding dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, “glitches” in the voting machines which changed...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2020