Ousted DHS Chief: Trump’s Bogus Fraud Claims Are ‘Corrosive To Confidence In Democracy’

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 22: Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, attends the U.S Conference of Mayors’ 88th Winter Meeting at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
UNITED STATES - JANUARY 22: Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, attends the U.S Conference of Mayors 88th Winter Meeting at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., on ... UNITED STATES - JANUARY 22: Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, attends the U.S Conference of Mayors 88th Winter Meeting at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Chris Krebs, who led the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity arm and was fired by President Trump last month after publicly debunking the sitting president’s conspiracy theories challenging the legitimacy of the election process, on Sunday warned of dire consequences as a result of Trump and Republican lawmakers’ refusal to acknowledge that President-elect Joe Biden won the election.

On Saturday night, Krebs panned Trump for waging more baseless election fraud claims during his appearance at a Georgia rally in support of the state’s Republican senators running for re-election. Krebs tweeted that the rally was an “active, coordinated disinformation campaign to undermine confidence in our elections.”

The next morning, Krebs reiterated his stance during an interview on CBS on Sunday morning.

After saying that “it is well past the time where all leaders of the Republican Party” must accept that Joe Biden is the president elect, Krebs was asked about what he thinks the consequences are regarding the sitting president’s attempts at sowing doubt on the election process.

“I do think it’s corrosive to confidence in the election, in democracy,” Krebs said. “You know, the point of elections, it’s often been said by election officials, is that you’re trying to convince the loser that they lost. But to do that, you have to have willing participants that are honest brokers. And we’re just not seeing this right now.”

Krebs said that there has been no evidence that has supported Trump’s baseless election fraud claims and that “it is time to move on,” especially in light of the Georgia Senate runoffs next month that will determine the balance of the Senate.

“You should have confidence, particularly Georgia voters should have confidence in the election and they need to get out for the January 5th Senate runoff,” Krebs said.

Krebs, who’s described himself as a lifelong Republican, was then pressed on why he thinks most Republicans won’t outright acknowledge that Biden is president-elect.

Krebs replied that he’s unsure of the motivations behind Republicans who still won’t come around to publicly acknowledging that Biden on the election, before calling on leaders in the national security community and in the Republican Party to “stand up to accept the results and move forward.”

“We cannot allow this to continue, certainly not past January 20th, certainly not for the next four years,” Krebs said. “Any sort of lost cause movement would be just horribly destructive to democracy.”

Watch Krebs’ remarks below:

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Notable Replies

  1. “We cannot allow this to continue, certainly not past January 20th, certainly not for the next four years,” Krebs said.

    Lock him (i.e., Chiselin’ Trump) up?

  2. And of course you didn’t realize this was the kind of man Trumpy was when you agreed to serve.

  3. Krebs, who’s described himself as a lifelong Republican, was then pressed on why he thinks most Republicans won’t outright acknowledge that Biden is president-elect.

    Krebs replied that he’s unsure of the motivations behind Republicans who still won’t come around to publicly acknowledging that Biden on the election, before calling on leaders in the national security community and in the Republican Party to “stand up to accept the results and move forward.”

    https://twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/1335282253321134082


    .

  4. Don’t know if folks have been following this little drama, but Steve Vladek puts us at ease.

    Thread.

    The concern trolls and regular nasty trolls are out today convinced that the dominoes are going to fall and generate a “constitutionally allowable” soft coup that will maintain Trump in the presidency. What does that say about people that expect our constitution to thwart democracy? What does that say about a constitution that gives those people that idea to begin with? I will always put my faith in great men and women of good will who champion democracy.

    We are on dangerous ground and will continue to be even after Biden is inaugurated

  5. It is a good thread from an actual expert on constitutional law and the Supreme Court.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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