Trump orders investigations into 2 members of his previous administration
Once-anonymous author, cybersecurity expert who deemed 2020 election secure cited in memo
U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his efforts to punish his critics on Wednesday by signing a pair of memoranda directing the Justice Department to investigate two officials from his first administration and stripping them of any security clearances they may have.
Trump's targeting of Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official in Trump's first term, and Chris Krebs, a former top cybersecurity official, marks an escalation of Trump's campaign of retribution since he returned to power.
Taylor, who left the Trump administration in 2019, was later revealed to be the author of an anonymous New York Times op-ed in 2018 that was sharply critical of Trump. The person writing the essay described themselves as part of a secret "resistance" to counter Trump's "misguided impulses," and its publication touched off a leak investigation in Trump's first White House.
Taylor later published a 2019 book, A Warning, under the pen name "Anonymous" and publicly revealed his identity days before the 2020 election. Four years later, he wrote a followup, Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from Trump's Revenge.
Trump said Wednesday that Taylor was "like a traitor" and his writings about "confidential" meetings were "like spying."
"I think he's guilty of treason," he said.
Taylor responded by saying Trump had proved his point.
"Dissent isn't unlawful. It certainly isn't treasonous. America is headed down a dark path," he wrote on X.
Trump named Krebs the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), but became angered with him after that agency in November 2020 called that year's election "the most secure in American history."
"There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, or changed votes, or was in any way compromised." CISA said, as Trump launched a pressure campaign to prevent Joe Biden's victory.
Krebs did not respond to a message seeking comment, but late Wednesday he shared on X a message he originally posted when he left government in 2020: "Honored to serve. We did it right."
Trump has falsely claimed he was cheated out of re-election in 2020 by widespread fraud, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Recounts, reviews and audits in the battleground states where he disputed his loss all affirmed Biden's victory. Judges, including some he appointed, rejected dozens of his legal challenges.
"It's bizarre to see a president investigate his own administration and his own appointee," said David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer and co-author of The Big Truth, a book about Trump's 2020 election lies.
Becker noted Trump only souring on Krebs after the votes were counted.
Firms, individuals singled out
Early in his presidential campaign in 2023, Trump vowed to an audience of Republicans to be "your retribution" and to "fire the unelected bureaucrats and shadow forces who have weaponized our justice system like it's never ween weaponized before."
Trump characterized Biden's administration as the "most corrupt ever," but Democrats pointed to prosecutions of Hunter Biden, the former president's son, as well as indictments of prominent Democrat lawmakers such as Bob Menendez and Henry Cuellar, to refute his claims that justice was being pursued with political motives in mind.
So far in his second term, Trump loyalists installed to lead the U.S. Justice Department have fired employees who worked on prosecutions against the 78-year-old between his years in office, with a slew of career supervisors demoted in an effort to purge the agency of officials seen as insufficiently loyal.
Trump last week confirmed "we fired some people we didn't like" after reports emerged that National Security officials were terminated, not long after far-right activist Laura Loomer raised concerns directly to him about staff loyalty in an Oval Office meeting. Trump downplayed Loomer's influence in the decision-making process.
Trump has also revoked the security clearances of members of the Biden family, as well as some who served in his first administration but have criticized some of his policies, including former national security adviser John Bolton and Mark Milley, the retired general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for both Trump and Biden.
Biden, in pardons that some viewed as controversial and precedent-setting, issued pre-emptive pardons for other public figures who raised Trump's ire for various reasons, including former public health leader Dr. Anthony Fauci and ex-Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney.
Also Wednesday, Trump targeted Susman Godfrey, a law firm which represented Dominion Voting Systems in a lawsuit that accused Fox News of falsely claiming that the voting company had rigged the 2020 presidential election. Fox News ultimately agreed to pay nearly $800 million US to Dominion, which was founded in Toronto, to avert a trial.
The order bars the firm from using government resources or buildings, according to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.
In a statement, Susman Godfrey responded that people who know the firm know it takes seriously its duty to uphold the rule of law. "This principle guides us now," the firm said. "There is no question that we will fight this unconstitutional order."
Trump has issued a series of orders meant to punish firms, including ordering the suspension of lawyers' security clearances and revoking federal contracts. He's succeeded in extracting concessions from some who have settled, but others have challenged the orders in court.