Editor's note: The third paragraph of this article has been updated.
One man personally targeted by President Donald Trump who worked for him in his previous administration is now pledging to fight back against his retribution campaign — and has just quit his job to do it.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Christopher Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) during Trump's first term, is putting together a strategic campaign to fight back against his former boss. Krebs' announcement comes after Trump specifically named him and Miles Taylor — who was a senior Department of Homeland Security official during Trump's first term — in an executive order that demanded they be investigated and be stripped of their security clearances.
According to Krebs, he felt the need to step away from SentinelOne (the cybersecurity firm where he works) so his employer wouldn't experience direct blowback from his efforts to battle against Trump's retribution. He said he felt compelled to do something "about the government pulling its levers to punish dissent, to go after corporate interests and corporate relationships." And he added that he didn't think the "lay-low-and-hope-this-blows-over approach is the right one for the moment we’re in."
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“For those who know me, you know I don’t shy away from tough fights,” Krebs wrote in an email to coworkers. “But I also know this is one I need to take on fully — outside of SentinelOne.”
Trump fired Krebs via Twitter in 2020 after the former CISA director refused to endorse his false claims that his election loss to then-candidate Joe Biden was illegitimate. Krebs not only validated Biden's victory as fair, but even said that the 2020 election was the most secure in history. Trump derisively referred to Krebs as a "wiseguy" from the Oval Office.
"He came out right after the election, which was a rigged election, a badly rigged election…this guy Krebs was saying, ‘Oh, the election was great, it was great,'" Trump said prior to signing the order.
Taylor, in the meantime, has also promised to fight back against the Trump administration. He told the Journal that he felt compelled to do so in order to establish that Trump's "punishment for dissent" shouldn't go unchallenged.
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Click here to read the Journal's report in full (subscription required).