Skip to content
November 17, 2020

Chairs Thompson and Underwood Statement on Trump Firing Chris Krebs

(WASHINGTON) – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, and Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, & Innovation, released the following statement after President Trump, in a series of false tweets flagged by Twitter, fired Chris Krebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA):

“The President’s decision to fire Director Krebs makes America less safe. The President’s unsubstantiated tweets this evening do nothing to defend our state and local governments and critical infrastructure against malicious cyber campaigns from Russia, China, and Iran. And they do nothing to improve the security of our elections.

“The fact is that, since Election Day, President Trump has sought to delegitimize the election results by engaging in a disinformation campaign that could shatter public confidence in our elections for generations. Director Krebs put national security ahead of politics and refused to use his position to do the President’s bidding, so the President fired him. We commend Chris Krebs for refusing to cave to political pressure from the White House and instead choosing to uphold his obligations to the American people as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“In firing Director Krebs for refusing to lend credibility to his baseless claims and conspiracy theories about voter fraud, the President is telling officials throughout the Administration to put his political interests ahead of their responsibilities to the American people. That is not only disturbing, it is antidemocratic.”

#  #  #

Press Contact

Adam Comis at (202) 225-9978