Christopher Krebs, the top federal cybersecurity official who was fired by President Trump last week due to the official’s efforts to dispel concerns on 2020 election safety, said in a “60 Minutes” interview this week that he was “most upset” that he “didn’t get a chance to say goodbye” to his team.
In the interview, a portion of which aired on “CBS This Morning” Friday, correspondent Scott Pelley read out a statement Krebs released earlier this month on behalf of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), stating that “the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. … There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes or changed votes or was in any way compromised.”
“Yeah, I stand by that,” Krebs told Pelley.
“The president tweeted after that statement, quote, ‘The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 election was highly inaccurate in that there were massive improprieties and fraud,'” Pelley continued. “Do you remember what the president said at the end of that tweet?”
“Oh, I was terminated?” Krebs asked. “Yes. I recall that.”
“Were you surprised?” Pelley replied.
“I don’t know if I was necessarily surprised. It’s not how I wanted to go out,” Krebs said.
“I think the thing that upsets me the most about that is I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to my team,” the former CISA director continued. “And I’d worked with them for 3 1/2 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.”
In Trump’s tweet last week, the president wrote that Krebs’s firing was “effective immediately.”
“Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, ‘glitches’ in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more,” the president claimed in an attempt to challenge the statement from Krebs.
These claims, among others of voter fraud and voting irregularities, have since been disputed by several courts as Trump’s legal team attempts to challenge the election results in key battleground states
However, Trump has repeatedly refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, who was projected by all major news outlets to win the race on Nov. 7.
Krebs has committed to standing by his assertion that the 2020 election was secure, calling a Nov. 19 press conference held by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and other Republicans “the most dangerous 1hr 45 minutes of television in American history.”
“If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re lucky,” Krebs added in a tweet.
In the press conference, Giuliani cited multiple now-debunked claims of voter fraud. He also cited a scene from the film “My Cousin Vinny” in which a character is too far away from a crime scene to be a credible witness to argue the Trump campaign wasn’t allowed close enough to observe ballot counting in Pennsylvania.
In his role as head of CISA, Krebs coordinated with state and local officials to boost election security following Russian interference in 2016.
On the evening of Krebs’s firing, Deputy Director Matthew Travis resigned, and top cybersecurity official Bryan Ware stepped down the week prior following pressure from the White House.
The full “60 Minutes” interview with Krebs is scheduled to air at 7:30 p.m. EST on Sunday.