Published 12:10 IST, November 29th 2020
'Not how I wanted to go out': Cybersecurity official who was fired by Trump on Twitter
The former cybersecurity agency head fired by US President Donald Trump through a tweet, Christopher Krebs said that it was “not how I wanted to go out”.
The former cybersecurity agency head fired by US President Donald Trump through a tweet, Christopher Krebs said that it was “not how I wanted to go out”. In an interview with CBS, Krebs talked about how he could say goodbye to his team that he worked with more than three years after he was booted from his job as the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Informing that he was not entirely surprised, the thing that he is ‘most upset about’ is not being able to say farewell.
Trump had fired Krebs reportedly after he refuted the US President over the baseless claims on election fraud. The former agency head had supported the integrity of the democratic process that Trump has been questioning since being defeated to US President elect-Joe Biden in the November 3 presidential election. On the news of him getting fired, Krebs had only posted a brief statement on November 17 saying, “Honored to serve. We did it right...Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow.” However, now in a televised interview, Krebs confessed that it was not how he wanted to leave his job.
“I don't know if I was necessarily surprised. It's not how I wanted to go out,” Krebs said.
“The thing that upsets me the most about that is I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my team. And I'd worked with them for three and a half years, in the trenches. Building an agency, putting CISA on the national stage. And I love that team. And I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, so that's what I'm most upset about,” he added.
Democrats, a handful of Republicans denounced Krebs firing
On November 17, Donald Trump, who has been repeating unsubstantiated claims on election fraud and has refused to concede to Biden even as the official transition process has begun, said on Twitter that “effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.” This triggered the members of the Congress, and mostly Democrats denouncing the firing and criticising the US President.
Earlier this month, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff also criticised Trump for “retaliating against Director Krebs and other officials who did their duty. It’s pathetic but sadly predictable that upholding and protecting our democratic processes would be cause for firing.” One of the handful Republicans who backed Krebs was Sen Ben Sasse of Nebraska saying, “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.”
Updated 12:08 IST, November 29th 2020