President Donald Trump’s campaign lawyer Joseph diGenova suggested Monday that Chris Krebs, the former chief of U.S. cybersecurity, should be executed for defending the integrity of the Nov. 3 election.
“Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity, that guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot,” diGenova said in a call-in interview to “The Howie Carr Show,” which was broadcast on the radio, Newsmax and online streams.
Krebs was fired by the president earlier this month after the Department of Homeland Security office he led, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said publicly that it had found no evidence of votes being deleted, lost, changed or compromised in the 2020 election ― contradicing Trump’s baseless claims of rampant fraud.
Krebs, a lifelong Republican, stood by his position during a “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday night, saying that those ongoing allegations are “dangerous” and “nonsense” and that Americans should have “100% confidence” in the security of the election.
“We can go on and on with all the farcical claims alleging interference in the 2020 election, but the proof is in the ballots,” Krebs said Sunday. “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.”
Krebs said Tuesday that he’s considering legal action against people lobbing death threats at him.
“The way I look at is that we’re a nation of laws and I plan to take advantage of those laws,” Krebs told NBC’s “Today.” “I’ve got an exceptional team of lawyers that win in court and I think that they’re probably going to be busy.”
He added that his legal team is reviewing “all our available opportunities.”
Asked if he was concerned for his safety, Krebs said he wouldn’t give his harassers “the benefit of knowing how I’m reacting to this.”
“They can know that there are things coming though,” he said.
DiGenova, his host Carr and the right-wing network they appeared on all have a history of parroting unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that often benefit Trump. Carr responded to diGenova’s disturbing call for violence with a few chuckles before moving on.
The reckless comments against the former public official come as the president himself continues to lash out at Krebs and other members of his own party who have publicly disputed his claims of widespread election fraud. Some officials have reported receiving threats of violence against themselves and their family members.
Last month, another member of Trump’s inner circle, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, casually called for violence against public officials who disagreed with the president. He said he would like to see infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray beheaded as a “warning to federal bureaucrats.”
DiGenova and other members of the Trump legal team have failed to make any headway in their efforts to overturn the election results in key battleground states.
Hayley Miller contributed reporting.