Former US election security chief says Trump team’s fraud allegations are ‘farcical’

President Donald Trump boards Marine One after golfing at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia

Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The top US cybersecurity official fired by Republican President Donald Trump for saying the November 3 election was the most secure in American history said on Friday that voter fraud allegations made by Mr Trump and his allies are "farcical".

Chris Krebs, the former director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told the CBS 60 Minutes program that allegations of US voting machines being manipulated by foreign countries were baseless.

Sidney Powell, a Trump attorney cut loose by the Trump legal team this week, had put forward a conspiracy theory that election systems created in Venezuela at the behest of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez helped tip the US election to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

She and others have also alleged that voting machines had flipped votes from Mr Trump to Mr Biden and some US voting information was stored on servers in Germany.

"All votes in the Unites States of America are counted in the United States of America. Period," Mr Krebs said, in an excerpt broadcast on CBS Evening News. The full 60 Minutes interview will air on Sunday.

Mr Krebs was fired by Mr Trump on November 17 after calling the election the "most secure in American history".

"There’s no evidence that any machine that I’m aware of has been manipulated by a foreign power," Mr Krebs said, calling such allegations "farcical claims".

"The American people should have 100 per cent confidence in their vote."

Mr Biden won the election with 306 Electoral College votes to Mr Trump’s 232. He leads Mr Trump by more than six million in the popular vote.

Mr Trump and his lawyers continue to allege, without evidence, that the election was stolen through widespread fraud and Mr Trump is the winner.

Mr Trump said on Thursday he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Mr Biden.

A recount in Wisconsin’s largest county demanded by Mr Trump’s election campaign ended on Friday with Mr Biden gaining votes.

After the recount in Milwaukee County, Mr Biden had a net gain of 132 votes, out of nearly 460,000 cast. Overall, Mr Biden gained 257 votes to Mr Trump’s 125.

Mr Trump’s campaign had demanded recounts in two of Wisconsin’s most populous and Democratic-leaning counties, after losing Wisconsin to Mr Biden by over 20,000 votes. The two recounts will cost the Trump campaign $3 million (£2.25 million). Dane County is expected to finish its recount on Sunday.

After the recount ended, Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said: "The recount demonstrates what we already know: that elections in Milwaukee County are fair, transparent, accurate and secure."

The Trump campaign is still expected to mount a legal challenge to the overall result in Wisconsin, but time is running out. The state is due to certify its presidential result on Tuesday.