'I think he's guilty of treason': Trump orders investigation into former deep-stater, 'Anonymous' official

President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders on Wednesday directing his administration to suspend security clearances for a pair of antagonistic officials who served in his first administration.

In addition to severing Miles Taylor and Christopher Krebs from the fount of insider federal knowledge, Trump has directed the relevant authorities in his administration to "take all appropriate action to review" the duo's activities while still government employees.

Trump characterized Krebs, the former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, in his order as a "significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his Government" and engaged in "abusive conduct."

"Krebs' misconduct involved the censorship of disfavored speech implicating the 2020 election and COVID-19 pandemic," wrote Trump. "CISA, under Krebs' leadership, suppressed conservative viewpoints under the guise of combatting supposed disinformation, and recruited and coerced major social media platforms to further its partisan mission. CISA covertly worked to blind the American public to the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop."

The president suggested further that while running the show at CISA, Krebs — a former Microsoft executive who has made no secret of his contempt for Trump and served as a key witness for the Democratic Jan. 6 select committee — promoted the suppression of information about "risks associated with certain voting practices" and "baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen."

Trump announced Krebs' termination via tweet on Nov. 17, 2020, days after CISA distributed a statement asserting both that "the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history" and that "there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."

Krebs was portrayed in heroic terms and as a tragic figure by Democrats and other leftists. California Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D), for instance, lauded Krebs for supposedly "speaking truth to power and rejecting Trump's constant campaign of election falsehoods."

'Identify any instances where Krebs' conduct appears to have been contrary to suitability standards for Federal employees.'

Krebs, who went on to call the president a "wannabe tyrant," responded to his termination on X, writing, "We did it right."

Trump has tasked Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem with determining whether Krebs in fact "did it right," directing them to "identify any instances where Krebs' conduct appears to have been contrary to suitability standards for Federal employees, involved the unauthorized dissemination of classified information, or contrary to the purposes and policies identified in Executive Order 14149 of January 20, 2025 (Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship)."

While Trump painted Krebs as a censorious hack potentially guilty of misonduct, he told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday that Taylor might be "guilty of treason" — a potential death-penalty offense.

Taylor served in the Trump DHS from 2017 to 2019. During that time, the former DHS chief of staff worked to undermine the democratically elected president and to "thwart parts of his agenda." Taylor admitted doing so in an anonymous piece in the New York Times titled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration."

In the article, Taylor suggested that he and others undermining the administration from within were the "steady state" and were committed to "steer[ing] the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it's over."

After leaving the Trump administration, Taylor penned a book — again hiding behind the cloak of anonymity — attacking Trump. At the time, the Trump White House called the book, which is replete with disputed claims, "a work of fiction" written by a "coward."

Prior to the 2020 election, Taylor finally revealed his identity, then endorsed Joe Biden for president.

"I barely remember him. Somebody that went out and wrote a book and said all sorts of terrible things that were all lies," Trump told reporters Wednesday.

'Taylor abandoned his sacred oath.'

"He wrote a book, '[A Warning:] Anonymous,' and I always thought it was terrible," said Trump. "Now we have a chance to find out whether or not it was terrible. But it was a work of fiction."

"I think we have to do something about it," Trump added. "If that happens to other presidents, it wouldn't be sustainable for other presidents. I seem to be able to sustain, but if that happened to other presidents, it's just unfair."

In his executive order, Trump noted, "Miles Taylor was entrusted with the solemn responsibility of Federal service, but instead prioritized his own ambition, personal notoriety, and monetary gain over fidelity to his constitutional oath."

"He illegally published classified conversations to sell his book under the pseudonym 'Anonymous,' which is full of falsehoods and fabricated stories," continued Trump. "In so doing, Taylor abandoned his sacred oath and commitment to public service by disclosing sensitive information obtained through unauthorized methods and betrayed the confidence of those with whom he served."

Trump noted further that the improper disclosure of sensitive information for the "purposes of personal enrichment and undermining our foreign policy, national security, and Government effectiveness" could "properly be characterized as treasonous and as possibly violating the Espionage Act."

Taylor tweeted Wednesday, "Dissent isn't unlawful. It certainly isn't treasonous. America is headed down a dark path."

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