Earlier this month, #Trump issued 2 #ExecutiveOrders revoking the #security clearances of #ChrisKrebs, who led #CISA under during Trump’s first term & rebutted his claims that the 2020 election had been rigged & stolen, & #MilesTaylor, who once served as chief of staff at the #DHS. Taylor anonymously wrote a NYT opinion essay in 2018 accusing Trump of rampant “amorality” & telling of an internal government “resistance.”

“It brings to mind the abuses of power that characterize #authoritarian nations, not the #UnitedStates. No matter one’s party or #politics, every American should reject the notion that the awesome #power of the presidency can be used to pursue individual vendettas. Behavior of this kind is more to be expected from a royal despot than the elected leader of a constitutional republic. This is the path of #autocracy, not #democracy.”

That same day, #Trump also signed a memo targeting #MilesTaylor, a fmr US ofcl who wrote an opinion column & book critical of Trump under the pen name “Anonymous.”

In the Oval Office last week, Trump called #ChrisKrebs a “wiseguy” & mocked an appearance he had seen from Krebs on TV.

“He came out right after the election, which was a rigged election, a badly rigged election…this guy Krebs was saying, ‘Oh, the election was great, it was great,’” Trump said.

Last week, #Trump signed a *memo* [directing the DOJ – which BTWs isn’t legal for him to do]…to investigate #ChrisKrebs, & suspend any #active security clearances held by Krebs & SentinelOne, the prominent #cybersecurity firm where he worked. Trump instructed the #DOJ & the #DHS to submit a report w/“recommendations for appropriate remedial or preventative actions.”

#ChrisKrebs, who ran #CISA & was responsible for securing the #2020election, drew #Trump’s ire after publicly contradicting Trump when Krebs stated the #election WASN’T STOLEN [Trump literally called that election “rigged” again today during an Oval Office presser]. Krebs was fired by tweet in Nov 2020 after calling the election the most secure in history.

#ChrisKrebs joins…growing list of #universities & #LawFirms seeking to push back on #Trump’s efforts to [ab]use the office of the president to attack critics & opponents.
“It’s about the government pulling its levers to punish #dissent, to go after corporate interests & corporate relationships. It’s the same thing we’ve seen w/the law firms, they’ve gone after clearances, they’ve gone after contracts. It’s a novel & expansive strategy they are taking on & it should concern everyone,” Krebs said.

Well, if you were expecting the cybersecurity industry to respond any better to Trump using government access to target one of its firms, than Big Law did, I suspect you're going to be disappointed:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/cybersecurity-industry-falls-silent-trump-turns-ire-sentinelone-2025-04-10/

Cybersecurity industry falls silent as Trump turns ire on SentinelOne

"Krebs' speech was followed by applause then, but Reuters found little sign of industry support for Krebs or SentinelOne as they face Trump now.

Katie Moussouris, founder of Luta Security, said she doubted the industry would publicly back SentinelOne given the White House's actions.

"I don't think it's feasible for cybersecurity companies to have a broader response on this," she said. "The risk is just too high."

Reuters contacted 33 of the largest U.S. cybersecurity companies, including tech companies and professional services firms with large cybersecurity practices, and three industry groups, for comment on Trump's action against SentinelOne.

Only one offered comment on Trump's action. The rest declined, did not respond or did not answer questions."

We kind of touched on this story already in another thread, but the short version is that Trump is using federal security clearances to damage a company called SentinelOne, for employing Chris Krebs - a former Trump official who balked at supporting Der Leader's "big lie" that the 2020 election is stolen. This is petty revenge, and a warning shot to everyone else in the industry that Trump can come after them if they displease him; but it's also about making the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election part of official regime policy and punishing anyone who disputes that with the full force of the DoJ and federal government.

On one hand, this isn't as big a story as Trump conscripting DC's biggest law firms via executive order, or the Yarvinite quest to have the regime literally seize control of higher education institutions via false claims about fighting antisemitism. What it is however, is a demonstration that Trump's success in those endeavors so far has emboldened him to extend his reach, and provided him with a successful model for how to use his power as POTUS to enforced ideological conformity, and assert direct control over portions of the private sector. As long as everyone stays silent, surrenders, or worse: openly collaborates, there's really no reason to believe he's going to stop doing this any time soon.

@GossiTheDog

#Cowards everywhere when we very much need #courage.

But just as the stolen-election claims were routinely rejected by the courts, this argument has been dealt with by the courts, too — #SCOTUS, in fact. It rejected the claim that #CISA’s efforts to combat #misinformation violated the plaintiffs’ #FirstAmendment rights, as #Trump’s memo suggests. The opinion was written by none other than a Trump-appointed justice, #AmyConeyBarrett.

To the extent #Trump’s executive action got more detailed, it pointed to #ChrisKrebs’s role in supposedly censoring Americans’ claims about what Trump calls the “stolen” election, Hunter Biden’s laptop & the covid pandemic.

“CISA, under Krebs’ leadership, suppressed conservative viewpoints under the guise of combatting supposed disinformation,” it reads.

#law #AbuseOfPower #RevengePolitics

But about as stunning as the broad concept of these presidential memos is their substance.
In the #ChrisKrebs executive action, #Trump lists among Krebs’s supposed offenses that he “falsely & baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged & stolen.”
There remains NO EVIDENCE the 2020 election was rigged or stolen, & judges confronted w/purported evidence to that effect routinely ruled against Trump & his allies.…Yet here is Trump suggesting that disputing his claim is grounds for sanctions.

#Trump intensified his efforts to punish his critics by signing a pair of memos directing #DOJ to investigate 2 ofcls from his first admin & stripping them of any security clearances they may have.

Trump’s targeting of #MilesTaylor, a fmr DHS ofcl in Trump’s first term, & #ChrisKrebs, a fmr top #cybersecurity ofcl, came as the Republican president has sought to [ab]use the powers of the presidency to retaliate against his adversaries…

#RevengePolitics #law #AbuseOfPower
https://apnews.com/article/trump-retaliation-miles-taylor-chris-krebs-efb1416926df9d1086fa21349a18f90b