Bring back ‘Schoolhouse Rock!’ says former Trump official Christopher Krebs
Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs supports holding his former boss accountable for the violent attack on the Capitol earlier this month. He also wants to see the return of “Schoolhouse Rock!”
Krebs, who was in charge of cybersecurity in 2020′s presidential election, was fired by former President Donald Trump after standing by his findings that the 45th president was not being truthful when he claimed without evidence that election was rigged. He told the PBS “News Hour” that making voters smarter might stop leaders like Trump from selling citizens lies that could threaten the nation’s democracy.
“We have to continue, from a transparency perspective, educating the American people on how elections actively work,” Krebs said Tuesday night. “I think that’s in part what happened in the last year or so, is that some of the promoters of ‘The Big Lie’ took advantage of the fact that the machinery of elections is not always immediately apparent to the American people.”
According to Krebs, bringing back ABC’s long-running animated educational series, which included classic civics episodes like “I’m Just a Bill” and “The Preamble,” might bring poorly informed Americans up to speed.
“So, let’s do something about that,” he said. “I love the idea of bringing back ‘Schoolhouse Rock!’”
But first, Krebs says the people behind the conspiracy theory that the election was somehow rigged need to be held responsible for that lie, which led to a storming of the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead.
“First off, we need those that propagated the big lie that the election was stolen, they need to own up to their lies, or they need to be held accountable,” Krebs said.
He said that’s one reason he supports seeing Trump’s impeachment proceedings move forward, even though Joe Biden — who won the election — took over the office last week. Failing to hold the president and his enablers accountable, according to Krebs, sets a dangerous precedent.
“There have to be meaningful consequences, or someone a little bit more dedicated, a little bit more competent, may... try it again and, unfortunately, next time, be successful,” he said.
He also spoke to PBS about the SolarWinds cyberattack on federal agencies and companies, which Krebs is helping to investigate. He said it has all the “hallmarks” of a Russian operation and appears to be an “espionage campaign.”
Trump fires top cybersecurity official who debunked his false voter fraud claims
Krebs angered the former president in November by declaring the election Trump lost by more than 7 million votes “the most secure in American history,” which he has since repeated numerous times.
“There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” Krebs added in November.
Falsely claiming Krebs’ summary “was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud” the former president cut the senior Homeland Security official loose.
Trump was impeached for his role in the deadly Jan. 6 uprising at the Capitol meant to overturn election results. The Senate will now hear his case.
