Victoria Coates, a former White House national security aide who was reassigned to the Energy Department earlier this year, has been cleared of suspicions that she was the author of a 2018 New York Times op-ed by “Anonymous” that was critical of the Trump administration.
Miles Taylor, who formerly worked at the Department of Homeland Security, admitted on Wednesday that he was the author of the article, as well as a book, A Warning, the following year.
Coates was formerly a deputy national security adviser on the National Security Council before she was reassigned to a post at the Energy Department. In 2018, rumors began floating around that Coates was the author of the story. She fervently denied it.
On Feb. 20, it was announced that Coates would make the transfer. The White House denied the rumors about her authoring the op-ed that spoke of a “resistance” in the Trump administration and said it was not the cause of the reassignment.
CNN reported on Feb. 21 that Peter Navarro, the president’s top trade adviser, had been, without evidence, pushing the narrative that Coates was Anonymous. Maggie Haberman, White House correspondent for the New York Times, tweeted on Wednesday, “The WH was positive it was Victoria Coates for reasons that were never entirely clear and her detractors used it to damage her internally.”
In April, RealClearInvestigations released an article titled “Here’s ‘Anonymous,’ Trump Aides Say. And Here’s How They Outed Her.” Coates tweeted out the story on Wednesday and asked, “Are you going to publish a retraction of this embarrassment?”
Commentators from both the Right and the Left believe Coates is entitled to an apology.
Josh Rogin, a columnist for the Washington Post, tweeted, “A lot of people in the White House and MAGA world owe @VictoriaCoates a massive apology.”
Josh Hammer, opinion editor for Newsweek, tweeted, “I really hope some people apologize to @VictoriaCoates today.”
