A former top Trump administration official targeted with a federal investigation by President Trump said he would fight back against what he called an unprecedented campaign by the government to punish dissent.
Chris Krebs, one of Trump’s top cybersecurity officials in his first term, will resign from a leading security firm to more freely challenge the White House, he said. He joins a small but growing list of universities and law firms seeking to push back on Trump’s efforts to use the office of the president to attack critics and opponents.
“It’s 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. It’s a novel and expansive strategy they are taking on and it should concern everyone,” Krebs said in his first interview since Trump issued a memo targeting him by name….
Krebs said Wednesday he was resigning from his job at SentinelOne as chief intelligence and public policy officer so he could spend his time on a legal and public-relations battle against Trump without worrying about the firm’s business or contracts.
Krebs said he has been flooded with outreach from Democrats and Republicans alike who want to help him. He also said it was important for the company to not be weighed down by his standoff with Trump. Cyber firms such as SentinelOne rely heavily on clearances to get contracts, as often information about foreign cyber threats is classified.
“For those who know me, you know I don’t shy away from tough fights,” Krebs wrote on Wednesday in an email to SentinelOne staff that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “But I also know this is one I need to take on fully—outside of SentinelOne.”…
Krebs said he understood why some have kept a low profile and tried not to further anger the president. But he said he disagreed with that approach. “I don’t think this lay-low-and-hope-this-blows-over approach is the right one for the moment we’re in,” he said.
The order targeting Krebs immediately upended his life. Krebs said he was sitting at home working at his desk when he received a flurry of texts last week that Trump was signing a memo criticizing him. He turned on the TV to see what was happening.
“My reaction was similar to 2020 when I got fired. I was such as, ‘What? No. That can’t be real.’ But here we are,” he said.
The last time he was sanctioned by a government, the former cybersecurity official said it was less surprising. “I was sanctioned by the Russians and I’ve been effectively sanctioned by my own government as well,” he said.