The New York Times will protect the identity of the senior Trump administration official who wrote the opinion column critical of the president.
That was revealed Saturday in a Q&A with Op-Ed editor Jim Dao, who responded to a selection of the more than 23,000 questions the Times received from readers in the wake of the column, which claims there is a movement within the administration to frustrate parts of President Trump’s agenda.
Trump, who has criticized the writer as “gutless” and “a coward,” said Friday he wants the Department of Justice investigate the identity of the writer on national security grounds. Earlier this week, he tweeted that the New York Times “must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”
One reader asked under what conditions the Times would reveal the writer.
“It is difficult to imagine a situation where The Times could be forced to disclose the author’s identity. The First Amendment clearly protects the author’s right to publish an essay criticizing the president, and absolutely nothing in the Op-Ed involves criminal behavior,” Dao wrote. “We intend to do everything in our power to protect the identity of the writer and have great confidence that the government cannot legally force us to reveal it.”
The identity of the writer has been a topic of speculation the column’s publication Wednesday. Many prominent administration staff and Cabinet members have already denied writing the piece.
