GOP lawmaker: Trump implementing a ‘loyalty purge’ amid firing of top cybersecurity official

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) said on Wednesday that President Trump is implementing a “loyalty purge” in the White House after the firing of top U.S. cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs. 

In an interview on CNN’s New Day, Kinzinger said Krebs was doing his job and defending the security of the elections. 

“Chris Krebs said the election is secure … and of course, that is counter to what the president is trying to say,” Kinzinger said. “There’s like a loyalty purge going on in the last month of the White House.” 

The president, who has refused to accept his loss to former Vice President Joe Biden, said on Twitter that Krebs was terminated “effective immediately.” He alleged that a recent statement about the security of the election was “highly inaccurate” and baselessly claimed that “there were massive improprieties and fraud — including dead people voting.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger: “There’s like a loyalty purge going on in the last month in the White House.” pic.twitter.com/T87her9eLm

— The Hill (@thehill) November 18, 2020

Krebs had served as the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency since it was established in 2018, and has been a key leader on issues including election security. 

The Hill and other news outlets reported last week that Krebs was expecting to be terminated after attracting attention for his efforts to debunk conspiracies about voter fraud and the security of the election. 

His agency put out a statement from election officials and stakeholders on Thursday affirming that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history,” adding there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” 

Krebs’s departure is just the latest in a growing number of Trump administration officials who have been fired or stepped down after the general election, most notably Defense Secretary Mark Esper, whom Trump fired earlier this month. Kinzinger said that John McEntee, head of the Presidential Personnel Office, has been trying to get people loyal to Trump in the White House. 

“We’re in the last month or two where if somebody’s not seen as sufficiently loyal, it’s a chance for somebody like John McEntee to get payback or for the president to get payback,” he said.