The newest addition to the Biden administration is a prominent Republican official who fought back against Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election had been stolen.
Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, the only statewide elected Republican on the West Coast, will join the administration as the senior election security lead at the federal government’s top cybersecurity organization.
The appointment places one of the most prominent Republican critics of Trump’s election lies at the very agency that Trump pressured, unsuccessfully, to amplify those lies.
The agency confirmed Wyman’s appointment in a statement Tuesday. CNN and the Associated Press both reported that Wyman was the frontrunner for the job Monday night.
Wyman will tackle election security issues at the agency known as CISA — the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is housed within the Department of Homeland Security.
Wyman stood out following Donald Trump’s 2020 loss as a rare Republican in statewide elected office willing to speak plainly and truthfully about the results of the contest.
“Every time the President makes these kind of flamboyant remarks that are just designed to inflame the base of the Republican Party, and to cast doubt on the outcome of the election, it undermines our democracy. And you know, that’s not okay,” she said in November.
“One of the reasons that our country works is that we have a representative form of democracy and our Republic has survived over 240 years for a reason. And it’s because people believe the results of the election.”
Ahead of Trump’s first election, in October 2016, Wyman said it was “irresponsible” for Trump to claim that the election would be rigged.
“It’s irresponsible for a candidate to be casting doubt on the election process and just making these sweeping statements that the election is rigged already and that the outcome is predetermined,” she said then.
The Washington secretary of state was elected to a third term in that office in November.
CISA made waves last year when, along with several other groups, it said on Nov. 13 that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history.” A few days later, Donald Trump fired CISA’s then-director, Chris Krebs. Among other things, Krebs resisted pressure from the White House to delete a “rumor control” page on its website that debunked lies about the election.
“Kim doesn’t see R or D, red or blue,” Krebs told CNN Monday, referring to Wyman. “She’s committed to delivering democracy for the nation. Everyone wins here.”
This post has been updated.
