‘Treason’: Trump Orders Probes Into Former Staffers Who Led ‘Resistance’
President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearances of ex-CISA Director Chris Krebs and former DHS official Miles Taylor, while also directing investigations into their activities during his administration.
In a series of executive orders and directives signed in the Oval Office, Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum focused on Krebs, stating that it “addresses his access to existing government clearances.”
Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, clarified that the memo tasks the Department of Justice (DOJ) and “other aspects” of the federal government “to investigate some of the malign acts” Krebs allegedly committed while leading CISA.
“This is a man who weaponized his position against free speech in the election context, in the context of COVID-19,” Scharf stated. “This is another, similar Presidential Memorandum to the one you just signed. It addresses his access to government existing clearances he might have, and further instructs your Department of Justice, other aspects of your government, to investigate some of the malign acts that he participated in while he was still head of CISA.”
After the 2020 election, Krebs sparked controversy by rejecting claims of voter fraud, declaring the election was “the most secure in American history,” even though numerous concerns about irregularities had been raised.
Trump ultimately dismissed Krebs, criticizing him for minimizing the concerns surrounding the election. The former president labeled Krebs a “fraud” and a “disgrace,” emphasizing the firing as necessary for restoring trust within federal agencies.
“I don’t know that I met him. I’m sure I met him, but I didn’t know him, and he came out right after the election — which was a rigged election, a badly rigged election. We did phenomenally in that election,” Trump remarked.
According to a White House fact sheet, the Presidential Memorandum “directs the head of every federal agency to immediately revoke any active security clearance held by Krebs.” Furthermore, agencies are instructed to suspend “any active security clearance held by individuals and entities associated with Krebs, including SentinelOne, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with national interest.”
The same directive also orders the DOJ to investigate Taylor, who had openly admitted to organizing “the resistance” against Trump during his first term.
Specifically, the order highlights that any security clearances tied to individuals at the University of Pennsylvania, where Taylor now lectures, are to be suspended “pending a review of whether such clearances align with the national interest.”
Taylor gained notoriety in 2018 after authoring a New York Times op-ed under the byline of an “anonymous” “senior administration official,” criticizing the Trump administration and admitting efforts to sabotage its agenda. In 2020, Taylor was revealed as the author and later transitioned to a role as a CNN political analyst.
“I think he’s guilty of treason if you want to know the truth,” Trump declared when signing the directive related to Taylor.
During a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard disclosed that U.S. intelligence agencies have uncovered “evidence” showing vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems that could allow hackers to “manipulate” election outcomes.
“We’ve got a long list of things that we’re investigating. We have the best of the best going after this. Election integrity being one of them. We have evidence of how these electronic voting systems have been vulnerable to hackers for a very long time and vulnerable to exploitation to manipulate the results of the votes being cast,” Gabbard said.