President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed the Department of Justice to investigate two former senior officials who publicly opposed his first-term administration, marking a sharp escalation in his use of executive authority to retaliate against critics.
In back-to-back presidential memorandums signed in the Oval Office, Trump targeted Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who authored the anonymous 2018 New York Times op-ed "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration." Both men had criticized Trump's conduct in office and his post-election claims.
The memorandums revoke security clearances for Krebs, Taylor, and affiliated organizations, including the University of Pennsylvania and cybersecurity firm SentinelOne. Trump also directed federal agencies to bar certain law firms from using government resources, including Susman Godfrey, which represented Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation case against Fox News.
"I think it's like a traitor, it's like spying," Trump said of Taylor. "I think he's guilty of treason if you want to know the truth."
Taylor responded on X: "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."
Trump also reiterated his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. "We'll find out whether or not it was a safe election," he said. Referring to Krebs, who certified the election as secure, he added, "If it wasn't, he's got a big price to pay."
Krebs, who was fired by Trump in November 2020, has not publicly responded to the memorandum, though he reposted a message from 2020 on social media: "Honored to serve. We did it right."
David Becker, a former Justice Department attorney and coauthor of The Big Truth, criticized the move. "It's bizarre to see a president investigate his own administration and his own appointee," he said. "The reason he can sit in the White House today and govern from that position is because our election system is secure."
Senator Angus King (I., Maine), a co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, called the action against Krebs "a terrible misuse of the President's authority." King said, "Chris Krebs' crime appears to be telling the truth, in saying the 2020 election's infrastructure was secure-and it was."
SentinelOne said fewer than ten employees held security clearances and downplayed the effect of the order. "We do not expect this to materially impact our business in any way," said company spokesman Craig VerColen.
The memorandum also revoked access for Susman Godfrey, citing the firm's litigation role in the Dominion lawsuit. The firm responded in a statement: "There is no question that we will fight this unconstitutional order."
Trump's latest moves come amid a pattern of executive orders targeting legal institutions. In March, judges temporarily blocked some of his previous efforts to sanction firms. More than 500 law firms denounced his directives in a recent court filing, calling them "an abuse of power that endangers the rule of law."
Matt Blaze, an election security expert and one of 59 signatories of a 2020 joint statement affirming the integrity of the election, responded Wednesday: "There is simply no credible evidence that the 2020 election outcome was altered through technical attacks, despite exhaustive scrutiny."
