Democrats allege the hearing is intended to support the unproven conspiracy theories that have driven Trump since losing the election to Biden, whose victory became official on Monday when the electoral college voted to formalize the results of the Nov. 3 election. Biden won 306 electoral votes against Trump’s 232, a result recognized on the Senate floor on Tuesday by majority leader Mitch McConnell.
“At a time when our founding principles and our most sacred democratic values are under attack, we must defend the sanctity and security of our elections – not provide a greater platform for those who wish to sow chaos in our democratic process,” Peters said in a statement.
Since his dismissal by Trump via Twitter last month, Krebs, who headed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, has been on a whirlwind media tour to back off against the false and increasingly erratic claims about the 2020 election.
Earlier this month, he sued the Trump campaign and one of his lawyers for defamation, making comments from attorney Joseph diGenova, who said that Krebs should face the same sentence as those convicted of treason, because he had claimed the elections of 2020 were the most. safe in history.
“It should be drawn and quartered,” DiGenova said on Newsmax, a favorite of the president. “Taken away at dawn and shot.”
According to the lawsuit, at one point, Krebs asked, “Daddy is going to be executed?”
DiGenova said his comments about Krebs were sarcastic and meant as a joke.
Krebs is likely to receive a warm welcome from Senate Democrats and possibly even some Republicans who thought his resignation was a mistake, although it is unclear how many GOP senators will actually participate in the hearing.
In a speech after the Electoral College ballot, Biden Krebs cited one of the reasons Trump loyalists had to give up on the idea that the election had been stolen.
“Even President Trump’s own cybersecurity boss, who oversaw our election, said it was the safest election in US history – and was released on the spot,” Biden said during the nationally televised evening address.
“Let me say it again: his own cybersecurity boss who oversaw this election said it was the safest in US history,” Biden added.
Krebs will also likely face questions about the extensive hacking campaign that hit several major federal agencies, including the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department, which went undiscovered for months.
“I have the greatest confidence in the CISA team and other federal partners,” Krebs tweeted about the hack. “I’m sorry I’m not there, but they know how to do this.”