Donald Trump returned to the White House with an appetite for retribution that apparently outpaced his memory of who he felt had wronged him.
The president had difficulty remembering the name of one of his perceived political enemies while brooding over his long-held grudges during a meeting with staff, according to Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, the forthcoming book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
Trump “began to muse about past grievances” in front of several staff members, including deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller and Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s longtime aide, according to the book, which CNN obtained.
“I remember there was this lawyer who was in the administration who said the election was fair and there’s no fraud. Who was he?” the elderly president asked during the meeting in the spring of last year.
Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff who has long been a key figure in channeling Trump’s political animosities, replied, “Oh the DHS—I think you’re talking about the DHS guy. I forget his name.”
Epshteyn, one of the president’s private lawyers, turned to the internet for help.
After a Google search, Epshteyn found the name: “Chris Krebs,” who had led a cybersecurity division of the Homeland Security Department during Trump’s first term. Trump fired Krebs after he staunchly defended the integrity of the 2020 elections, debunking the president’s false claims that his loss to Joe Biden was the result of fraud.
“Yeah, Chris Krebs,” Trump said, according to the book. “Whatever happened to him? He was a bad one. Take a look at him.”
Days later, the White House issued an executive order directing the Justice Department and the Deparment of Homeland Security to investigate Krebs.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under Krebs’ leadership, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had declared that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history”—a phrase that Trump apparently hadn’t forgotten as he mockingly repeated it while signing his vengeful executive order in the Oval Office in April 2025.
“This guy is a wiseguy,” Trump said of Krebs. “He said, ‘We’ve proven this is the most secure election in the history of our country.’ Now, this was a disaster… He’s a fraud. He’s a disgrace.”
Trump, the oldest president ever inaugurated, has increasingly struggled to recall significant details, forgetting how old the U.S. is, the name of a world leader he showered with compliments, and the name of an ocean, as scrutiny of his cognitive health mounts.
Elsewhere in their book, Haberman and Swan revealed that the gold decorations Trump has adorned the Oval Office with were affixed with super glue, and that the president is a late-night snacker who leaves chip bags and wrappers lying around on the floor.
It also saw Trump claim to the authors that he is more powerful than bloodthirsty tyrants Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler.
