Fired election security chief Chris Krebs sues Trump campaign and president's lawyer Joe diGenova for demanding he be 'hung, drawn, taken out at dawn and shot'
The former head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Agency who called the election the 'safest in American history' has sued Donald Trump lawyer Joe diGenova for defamation for saying he should be 'drawn and quartered.'
Christopher Krebs, whose agency was tasked with helping guard the 2020 U.S. Presidential election from hackers, filed a lawsuit against Trump's campaign and diGenova after the longtime lawyer and former prosecutor made threatening remarks during a television interview.
In addition to the 'drawn and quartered' remark, diGenova said Krebs should be 'taken out at dawn and shot.'
Chris Krebs, a former Department of Homeland Security official, has sued the Trump campaign and lawyer Joe diGenova for defamation following the lawyer's comments he should be 'drawn and quartered'
He also called Krebs an 'idiot' and a 'class-A moron' during an appearance on Newsmax, a conservative network that Trump has repeatedly promoted as he claims widespread fraud despite election suits being tossed by dozens of courts.
The lawsuit accuses diGenova, of a 'pernicious conspiracy' against members of the Republican party who are 'speaking truth and conscientiously performing their public duties' in the face of election fraud claims by the White House, according to the report.
It also accused diGenova and the campaign of 'intentional infliction of emotional distress.'
diGenova walked back the remarks, saying he was being 'sarcastic'
Krebs had suggested he might sue after diGenova's initial comments, which came amid Trump's effort to overturn election results in battleground states. He filed the 52-page suit in Montgomery County, Maryland, outside Washington, where diGenova lives.
Trump has made unsubstantiated claims of widespread electoral fraud and has been trying unsuccessfully to overturn the victory of Democrat Joe Biden. Trump's campaign has challenged the outcome in court in multiple states while also pressing state officials, lawmakers and governors to throw the results out and declare Trump the winner.
Krebs has been the target of death threats, according to the New York Times, which said it had reviewed a legal filing. It said the threats followed diGenova saying in an interview broadcast on conservative news network Newsmax that Krebs should be 'drawn and quartered' or 'shot at dawn' for stating that the recent election was the 'most secure in American history.'
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages and for the clip of diGenova's remarks on Newsmax to be removed.
A Trump campaign spokesman and diGenova did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Krebs' lawyers also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DiGenova sought to walk back the remarks, saying afterward he was being 'sarcastic.'
'For anyone listening to the Howie Carr Show, it was obvious that my remarks were sarcastic and made in jest. I, of course, wish Mr. Krebs no harm. This was hyperbole in a political discourse,' he said in a statement put out by the Trump campaign.
Krebs is also seeking to have Newsmax take down the interview, and wants conservative web site Parler to take down death threats.