Top cybersecurity official fired by Trump says allegations of foreign interference in 2020 election ‘farcical’

Ousted cybersecurity official speaks for first time since firing, says president’s fraud claims without basis

Chris Krebs, the cybersecurity director who Donald Trump terminated over claims the 2020 election was the most secure on record, has said recent allegations made by the president and his allies were “farcical”.

Mr Krebs, who was removed as director of the Department for Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on 17 November, made the remarks in an interview with CBS News, which will air on Sunday.

In a pre-released excerpt, Mr Krebs told the CBS 60 Minutes program that Trump campaign allegations around foreign interference with US voting machines, as well as the tabulation of votes in foreign countries, were both baseless.

“There’s no evidence that any machine that I’m aware of has been manipulated by a foreign power,” Mr Krebs told CBS’s Scott Pelley. “The American people should have 100 per cent confidence in their vote.”

Asked to comment on Trump campaign allegations that election systems created in Venezuela at the behest of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez helped swing the US election in Democratic president-elect Joe Biden’s favour, Mr Krebs added that those claims were also “farcical”.

“All votes in the United States of America are counted in the United States of America. Period,” said Mr Krebs.

“We can go on and on with all the farcical claims alleging — interference in the 2020 election, but the proof is in the ballots,” Mr Krebs said.

“The recounts are consistent with the initial count, and to me, that's further evidence, that's confirmation that the systems used in the 2020 election performed as expected.”

Sidney Powell, an attorney on the Trump campaign’s legal team who was dismissed this week, was among those who alleged without basis that Venezuela, Germany and billionaire George Soros were involved in a conspiracy to swap ballots in the presidential contest between Mr Trump and Mr Biden.

Mr Trump, who has not conceded the election and continued to allege election fraud without basis, said on Thursday he would leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Mr Biden, which it is all-but set to do.

Mr Biden won the election with 306 Electoral College votes to Mr Trump’s 232, and leads the president by over six million in the popular vote, according to Reuters.