President Donald Trump has been staging a "loyalty purge" in the White House over the past month, including with his announcement Tuesday that he had fired Christopher Krebs, the director of the federal agency that vouched for the reliability of the 2020 election, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Wednesday.
"What happened was Chris Krebs said the election was secure," the Illinois Republican said on CNN's "New Day." "That's his job to say that. His job is to make sure that they are defending the elections and, of course, that is counter to what the president is trying to say so I think that all feeds into why he's out there."
Krebs, a Trump appointee and director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, was fired while the Trump campaign continues to fight back about the election and refuses to recognize Democrat Joe Biden as the winner. The president also fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Nov. 9.
Kinzinger blamed the firing, in part, on Trump appointee John McEntee, who heads the Presidential Personnel Office.
"For whatever reason, he has been granted authority and for the last year or so he has overruled the desires of secretaries, of leaders of their organizations, all to try to place both his friends in government, let's be honest his buddies, but also people seen as sufficiently loyal to Trump," said Kinzinger. "That's why we heard about this story a week ago. I can almost guarantee he is the one who put that story out there."
It's important though, for a person like Krebs to remain working to, "in essence, post-game this election," said Kinzinger.
The lawmaker also said many of his constituents are waiting for Trump to "come to terms" with the election, and as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force National Guard, called Trump's plan to draw down troops in Afghanistan and Iraq "pointless."
"I think it's part of his desire, again, to say he did it, but it also may be an attempt to hobble the next administration," said Kinzinger. "(Biden) either has to say I'm going to double the troops, which is a whole new story in January or he's got to continue to pull out."