A week after President Donald Trump took the extraordinary step of ordering his Department of Justice to launch an investigation into former Homeland Security cybersecurity director Christopher Krebs, the onetime Republican official is speaking out.
And promising to fight back.
Krebs, in his first interview since being targeted by Trump in a seething executive order on April 9, told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that he resigned from his job at a leading security firm so he could challenge the White House full time without opening up the company to potential blowback.
“For those who know me, you know I don’t shy away from tough fights,” Krebs wrote in an email to staff at SentinelOne, which was obtained by the Journal. “But I also know this is one I need to take on fully—outside of SentinelOne.”
The former Trump administration official, who provoked the MAGA leader’s anger when he publicly contradicted the president’s assertions that the 2020 election was stolen, said Trump’s executive order is about “the government pulling its levers to punish dissent, to go after corporate interests and corporate relationships.”
“It’s the same thing we’ve seen with the law firms, they’ve gone after clearances, they’ve gone after contracts,” he added. “It’s a novel and expansive strategy they are taking on and it should concern everyone.”
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He revealed to the Journal on Wednesday that his life was “immediately upended” by the order Trump issued in an Oval Office signing ceremony last week, criticizing him as “a bad guy” who he vowed would pay “a big price.”
Krebs said he learned about the unprecedented directives when he was suddenly hit with a flurry of texts while working at his desk at home last week.
“My reaction was similar to 2020 when I got fired,” he said. “I was like, ‘What? No. That can’t be real.’ But here we are,” according to the Journal.
But he made clear in his interview that he disagreed with the low profile approach some who have made Trump’s growing list of political enemies have taken.
“I don’t think this lay-low-and-hope-this-blows-over approach is the right one for the moment we’re in,” Krebs told the Journal.