President Trump ordered investigations into two prominent DHS officials from his first term, in addition to revoking their security clearances.
Former DHS Deputy Chief of Staff Miles Taylor had writings critical of Trump in a 2018 NY Times opinion piece and a published book under the pen name Anonymous, while keeping his identity secret until just before the 2020 election. Chris Krebs was director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), responsible for securing the 2020 presidential election.
Krebs declared in a joint DHS statement shortly after the election that it was “the most secure in American history.” That directly contradicted Trump’s false claims of election fraud, an ongoing conspiracy theory of a rigged election the president still has never backed down from.
In response to Trump’s inquiry and criticisms of him, Krebs reshared a message he originally posted after the 2020 election: “Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow.” And the following was the statement posted a week after the 2020 election on cisa.gov, which was headed by Krebs. (It’s easy to see why an election denier like Trump would take issue with this.)
The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result.
When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.
Other security measures like pre-election testing, state certification of voting equipment, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) certification of voting equipment help to build additional confidence in the voting systems used in 2020.
While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.
As for Taylor, the whistleblower who had declared himself part of the Resistance from inside the administration, this was his snappy retort in April 2025 (shortly after Trump issued the order to investigate while even suggesting he thinks Taylor is guilty of treason for those prior writings):
I said this would happen, Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is headed down a dark path. Never has a man so inelegantly proved another man’s point.
Author Commentary
These orders follow a familiar pattern where Trump has been known to intimidate and punish political opponents who strayed from his chosen alternative interpretation of events.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either man to justify the investigations against them, but that doesn’t matter to a vengeful Trump who is known for attacking political enemies. Now that he’s back in the White House, the emboldened president has weaponized the Justice Department full of loyalists willing to do his dirty work which features an assault on the First Amendment. The only apparent infractions committed by either Taylor or Krebs were in doing their jobs competently while telling the truth about what they observed.
These trademark threats and intimidation Trump unleashes (such as also harassing heads of law firms, universities and media organizations) are not only for revenge, but he makes examples of his targets to scare others into silence who might otherwise speak out, since they’d be similarly subjected to a potential nightmare of legal peril/expenses, withholding public funds, career obstacles/losing clientele and/or public scrutiny from a hostile MAGA base.
Could these overreaching executive orders really be part of a much larger grand scheme where Trump has fascist intent? Such a scenario fits an overall picture that many of us view his numerous unconstitutional actions as a means to securing unfettered power on a deliberate path to dictatorship. We’re headed for a constitutional crisis if we’re not already there. But in these modern times with a fervent loyal base and large/friendly MAGA media-machine giving Trump a free pass, the general public isn’t treating the threat with the seriousness it deserves as our nation might be sleepwalking into autocracy.
Sources
Trump’s own officials say 2020 was America’s most secure election in history | VoxTrump orders investigation of two first-term administration aides who criticized him – POLITICO
Trump Orders DOJ Investigations Into Miles Taylor, Chris Krebs | HuffPost Latest News
Trump Orders Investigation of Ex-Aide Miles Taylor | TIME
Trump targets two first term critics, a law firm and the American Bar Association | CNN Politics
Who Are Miles Taylor And Chris Krebs? Trump Orders DOJ Probe Into Security Experts | Times Now
Ex-Trump Official Reacts to Executive Order That Targets Him – Newsweek
Trump ‘turns dictator’ and signs executive orders to personally take down whistleblowers
Trump orders DOJ investigation, revokes clearances for Miles Taylor, Chris Krebs
Election officials alarmed as Trump orders probe of former cybersecurity chief
Trump Threatens to Imprison Critics — and Bondi Might Do It
‘Donald Trump Needed To Send a Message’
Trump’s Latest Executive Order Lays Bare His Authoritarian Ambitions
