Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said that President Donald Trump “has to resign” in order to “prevent further bloodshed.”
Trump has faced harsh criticism and calls for resignation or removal from Democrats and members of his own party who say he incited the riot at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday that led to five deaths, including one Capitol Police officer.
“But there is an opportunity here, I think, to prevent further bloodshed,” Krebs told anchor Margaret Brennan during a Sunday morning appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I don’t know if the president is capable of doing it, but he has to resign. He has to tell his supporters that he lied to them, that this was all his own fraud. He has to come out.”
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“We have to set an example for the rest of the free world, that attempted coups, which is what this was, will not be tolerated,” he continued. “And there has to be an accountability. So whether it is the 25th Amendment push, or whether it’s an impeachment, the president has to be held accountable for supporting and really inciting the activity of this past week.”
Krebs, who was fired by Trump in November after disputing his claims that the election wasn’t secure, called the president’s legacy “a heap of ashes.” (RELATED: Bill O’Reilly Says Trump ‘Destroyed His Legacy,’ Lost ‘All Perspective And Personal Discipline’)
“There’s nothing redeemable at this point, given the fact that he incited this attempt to overturn democracy in a fair and free election,” Krebs wrote. “There is an opportunity, though, for a redemption story. Again, he can resign. He can tell his supporters that it was all a big con and that he is sorry. I don’t know if he is capable of doing it, but that’s the best way to prevent further violence, to prevent further erosion of confidence in democracy over the next four years.”