Trump targets ‘Anonymous’ author and former top cybersecurity official
in escalation of retribution
[April 10, 2025]
By MICHELLE L. PRICE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump intensified his efforts to
punish his critics by signing a pair of memoranda directing the Justice
Department to investigate two officials from his first administration
and stripping them of any security clearances they may have.
Trump's targeting of Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland
Security official in Trump’s first term, and Chris Krebs, a former top
cybersecurity official, came as the Republican president has sought to
use the powers of the presidency to retaliate against his adversaries,
including law firms.
Trump also on Wednesday retaliated against another law firm, Susman
Godfrey, as he seeks to punish firms that have links to prosecutors who
have investigated him or employed attorneys he sees as opponents.
Although Trump has ordered security clearances to be stripped from a
number of his opponents, including former President Joe Biden and former
Vice President Kamala Harris, the president's order Wednesday directing
the Justice Department to broadly investigate the actions of Taylor and
Krebs marks an escalation of Trump's campaign of retribution since he
returned to power.
Taylor, who left the Trump administration in 2019, was later revealed to
be the author of an anonymous New York Times op-ed in 2018 that was
sharply critical of Trump. The person writing the essay described
themselves as part of a secret “resistance” to counter Trump’s
“misguided impulses,” and its publication touched off a leak
investigation in Trump's first White House.
Taylor later published a book under the pen name “Anonymous” and
publicly revealed his identity days before the 2020 election.
Trump said Wednesday that Taylor was “like a traitor” and that his
writings about “confidential” meetings were “like spying.”
“I think he’s guilty of treason," he said.
Taylor responded by saying Trump had proved his point.
“Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is
headed down a dark path," he wrote on X.
Trump named Krebs the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency but became angered with him after he declared the 2020
election that Trump lost to be secure and the ballot counts to be
accurate.
Krebs did not respond to a message seeking comment, but late Wednesday
he shared on X a message he originally posted when he left government in
2020: “Honored to serve. We did it right.”
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Trump has falsely claimed he was cheated out of reelection in 2020
by widespread fraud, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.
Recounts, reviews and audits in the battleground states where he
disputed his loss all affirmed Biden’s victory. Judges, including
some he appointed, rejected dozens of his legal challenges.
“It’s bizarre to see a president investigate his own administration
and his own appointee,” said David Becker, a former Justice
Department lawyer and coauthor of “The Big Truth,” a book about
Trump’s 2020 election lies.
Becker noted that Krebs issued his reassurances about the security
of the upcoming election for months during 2020 without pushback
from the then-president, with Trump only souring on him after the
votes were counted.
“The reason he can sit in the White House today and govern from that
position is because our election system is secure and has accurately
determined who has won the presidency,” Becker said.
Susman Godfrey, the firm Trump targeted in an order Wednesday,
represented Dominion Voting Systems in a lawsuit that accused Fox
News of falsely claiming that the voting company had rigged the 2020
presidential election. Fox News ultimately agreed to pay nearly $800
million to avert a trial.
The order bars the firm from using government resources or
buildings, according to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.
In a statement, Susman Godfrey responded that people who know the
firm know it takes seriously its duty to uphold the rule of law.
“This principle guides us now,” the firm said. "There is no question
that we will fight this unconstitutional order.”
Trump has issued a series of orders meant to punish firms, including
by ordering the suspension of lawyers’ security clearances and
revoking federal contracts. He’s succeeded in extracting concessions
from some who have settled, but others have challenged the orders in
court.
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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Eric Tucker in Washington
and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
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