Chris Krebs has been called by Democrats who treated the audience with contempt.
Chris Krebs, the former head of the National Security Department’s cybersecurity agency – fired by President Donald Trump after claiming there was no evidence of election fraud – is scheduled to testify Wednesday before a party-controlled Senate committee Republican who says he must continue to investigate unfounded claims about the 2020 election.
The “Review of Irregularities in the 2020 Election” hearing was announced by Senate President of Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ron Johnson last week and immediately received the return of Democrats who argued that holding a committee that would challenge election results would be detrimental to democracy.
The hearing will take place just a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell publicly declared for the first time that Joe Biden is president-elect, and that many Republicans stood in line behind him.
Krebs, who came to the public’s attention after Trump fired him for tweeting that the November election was the “safest in American history,” was called as a witness by Senator Gary Peters. D-Mich, the top Democrat on the committee.
“I am appalled by the choice of many of my colleagues to help spread the president’s lies and false narratives about the outcome of the 2020 election,” Peters said in a statement. “This is not just another partisan political issue: repeating these falsehoods erodes public confidence in these fair and free elections, lays the groundwork for weakening public confidence in future elections, encourages our opponents and undermines our democracy and peaceful transition of power “.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to cancel the committee meeting last week, and expressed concern that he questioned the outcome. of elections would be detrimental to democracy.
“Using a Senate committee to spread misinformation about our own elections, this is beyond the obvious,” Schumer said last week.
Johnson is next to his hearing, calling on famous lawyer and former special counsel Ken Starr, who defended Trump during the January dismissal hearing, to join the group Wednesday.
In a statement scheduled for the hearing last week, Johnson said that while acknowledging that issues related to election integrity are raised in the courts, many Americans are not confident that the 2020 election results will be “legitimate.” “.
“This is not a sustainable state of affairs for our country,” Johnson wrote. “The only way to resolve suspicions is with full transparency and public awareness.”
No evidence of widespread electoral fraud has been identified. Trump’s legal team has filed dozens of lawsuits in court, none of which have been successful so far.
In the time since the Electoral College certified Biden’s victories, many Republicans have publicly acknowledged Biden’s victory. Even Johnson himself would have admitted on Tuesday that the election was virtually resolved during an interview with a local Wisconsin journalist.
Johnson said “yes” when asked if the election was legitimate, according to the local dam. Johnson claimed there were irregularities, but nothing that would nullify the election results.
At least one Republican committee has said it will not attend the hearing: Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
“I won’t go,” Romney told CNN Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s productive at this stage.”