The particular counsel investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to cling to energy after he misplaced the 2020 election has subpoenaed employees members from the Trump White House who could have been concerned in firing the federal government cybersecurity official whose company judged the election “the most secure in American history,” in response to two folks briefed on the matter.

The crew led by the particular counsel, Jack Smith, has been asking witnesses in regards to the occasions surrounding the firing of Christopher Krebs, who was the Trump administration’s prime cybersecurity official in the course of the 2020 election. Mr. Krebs’s evaluation that the election was safe was at odds with Mr. Trump’s baseless assertions that it was a “fraud on the American public.”

Mr. Smith’s crew can also be looking for details about how White House officers, together with within the Presidential Personnel Office, approached the Justice Department, which Mr. Trump turned to after his election loss as a approach to attempt to keep in energy, folks aware of the questions mentioned.

The investigators seem centered on Mr. Trump’s frame of mind across the firing of Mr. Krebs, in addition to on establishing a timeline of occasions main as much as the assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021. The newest subpoenas, issued roughly two weeks in the past, went to officers within the personnel workplace, in response to the 2 folks aware of the matter.

Mr. Krebs enraged Mr. Trump when his company, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, released a statement 9 days after the 2020 election testifying to the safety of the outcomes. The assertion added a pointy rebuke — in boldface kind — to the unfounded conspiracy theories that Mr. Trump and his allies have been spreading about compromised voting machines.

“There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised,” the assertion from Mr. Krebs’s company learn.

Five days later, Mr. Trump tweeted that Mr. Krebs was “terminated” after releasing a “highly inaccurate” assertion in regards to the 2020 election.

Mr. Krebs later testified to the House special committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol that earlier than his firing, he was conscious of “skepticism” amongst Trump allies about his “loyalty to the president.”

It was way over skepticism. Within the Presidential Personnel Office, a small group of Trump loyalists, led by Mr. Trump’s former private aide, John McEntee, have been on a mission to seek out and fireplace folks perceived as disloyal to Mr. Trump inside the federal paperwork. And they’d fingered the outspoken Mr. Krebs, who had been appointed by Mr. Trump himself, as among the many ranks of the disloyal.

Staff members inside the personnel workplace had drafted a doc about Mr. Krebs that outlined causes to mistrust him. The memo, first reported by Jonathan Karl of ABC News, detailed a litany of Mr. Krebs’s alleged sins in opposition to Mr. Trump, together with: “Wife posted a family photo on Facebook with the ‘Biden Harris’ logo watermarked at the bottom.”

Mr. Smith’s crew is asking witnesses about broader efforts made by Mr. Trump’s personnel officers to check the loyalty of federal officers and potential hires, the folks briefed on the matter mentioned. Mr. McEntee was seen going into the grand jury in current months.

Months earlier than the 2020 election, Mr. McEntee, now the pinnacle of a courting app for conservatives, and a deputy sought to overtake the federal government’s hiring course of. They developed what turned recognized by some officers as “the loyalty test” — a brand new questionnaire for presidency hires that requested such questions as “What part of Candidate Trump’s campaign message most appealed to you and why?”

Mr. Krebs is amongst these whom Mr. Smith’s crew has interviewed, in response to an individual aware of the matter. Mr. Krebs declined to remark when contacted.

Mr. Smith’s crew has additionally been attempting to determine how the personnel workplace interacted with the Justice Department as Mr. Trump grasped at any obtainable instrument inside his paperwork which may assist him subvert the 2020 election consequence.

In his remaining weeks in workplace, Mr. Trump grew more and more pissed off with the division’s leaders as one after one other rebuffed his strain on them to falsely declare that large-scale voter fraud had occurred in swing states, reminiscent of Georgia, that Mr. Trump had misplaced to Mr. Biden.

By the time the election passed off, Heidi Stirrup, a loyalist near Mr. Trump’s coverage adviser, Stephen Miller, had been put in because the White House liaison on the Justice Department. Mr. Smith’s workplace has requested questions on her position, one of many folks briefed on the matter mentioned.

Ms. Stirrup was banned from getting into the Justice Department constructing a month after the 2020 election, after she tried to glean sensitive information from division officers about efforts to hunt for election fraud, in response to officers with data of the episode.

Soon after, Attorney General William P. Barr, whom Mr. Trump had lengthy seen as an ally, resigned after telling Mr. Trump that his election fraud theories have been bogus and that the authorized crew he had assembled to problem the outcomes was a “clown show.” Jeffrey A. Rosen, who changed Mr. Barr, additionally refused to comply with Mr. Trump’s orders to make use of the equipment of the Justice Department to overturn the election.

Jeffrey B. Clark, the performing head of the civil division, was the one senior Justice Department official who embraced Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn President Biden’s victory. Mr. Clark had a comparatively low profile, however within the frantic interval after the election, Mr. Trump recognized him as his most essential ally contained in the division. Mr. Trump severely thought-about firing Mr. Rosen and placing Mr. Clark in cost.