Christopher Krebs, a top U.S. cybersecurity official who has been debunking election misinformation, expects to be fired by the White House, a report said Thursday, raising concerns on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Krebs, the director of the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, told associates he expects to be fired, Reuters reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
The sources, who were not identified, said White House officials have asked – and CISA has refused – to remove content from its website debunking misinformation about the election, Reuters first reported.
The Hill also reported late Thursday that Mr. Krebs expects to be ousted, citing an unnamed source.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, reacted to the report on Twitter, saying there “is no possible justification to remove him from office. None.”
“Under Chris Krebs’ leadership, CISA has been a trusted source of election security information,” echoed Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat. “If Donald Trump fires him, it will suggest Trump is preparing to spread lies about the election from a government agency.”
CISA has been tasked with securing the nation’s election infrastructure, and Mr. Krebs has been actively pushing back against false claims circulating about last week’s race for the White House.
Mr. Krebs, CISA’s first director, has lately been hyping a “Rumor Control” section on the agency’s website that has been regularly updated recently to address false claims about the election.
President Trump has repeatedly pushed false claims involving his race for reelection against Democratic challenger Joseph R. Biden. Mr. Trump is the projected loser of the race but has not conceded and is challenging the results in court in several states.
Mr. Trump boosted a false claim earlier Thursday on social media, for example, about millions of recent votes purportedly being altered. That post alleging fraud and others were quickly flagged.
Posting from his own Twitter account days earlier, Mr. Krebs warned people not to fall for “nonsense” about a supposed government supercomputer that some people falsely believe to have altered votes.
One source, according to Reuters, alleged the White House was upset about a post on the CISA site that debunked reports about the supercomputer, purportedly named Hammer, and a program, Scorecard.
The White House and CISA declined to comment, Reuters reported. Neither immediately responded to inquiries from The Washington Times.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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