Rumors circulating social media about the identity of the anonymous “resistance” opinion piece writer prompted a stern denial from the agents for the unnamed Trump administration official whose tell-all book came out last year.
In recent days, the guessing game for the identity of “Anonymous,” which has already embroiled such high-profile officials such as Vice President Mike Pence and former Defense Secretary James Mattis, has a new target: deputy national security adviser Victoria Coates.
While Coates declined to comment for the story, Javelin Literary Agency co-founder Matt Latimer issued a statement to Politico denying she is the author of the book A Warning.
“To be very clear so there is no chance of any misunderstanding: Dr. Coates is not Anonymous,” Latimer said in a statement. “She does not know who Anonymous is. We have never discussed Anonymous or the book, A WARNING, with her prior to its publication. She did not write it, edit it, see it in advance, know anything about it, or as far we know ever read it.”
Latimer, who is a former aide to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld along with co-founder Keith Urbahn, also criticized those who are spreading her name.
“This ‘investigation’ is based on innuendo, the irrelevant fact that she once worked with this agency on an art history book, and otherwise unprovable allegations — which are unprovable because they are not true,” Latimer said in a statement. “The fact that there is no real evidence has not stopped a whisper campaign against her to members of the press in the hope that someone would write a story. Nor has it stopped uninformed idiots from trying to out her on Twitter on Pavlovian command. As a result, her career is now at risk.”
Latimer did not identify these “uninformed idiots,” but among those who have been naming Coates as Anonymous is journalist and pro-Trump activist Jack Posobiec.
“New: Many around the White House are saying NSC official Victoria Coates authored Anonymous,” Posobiec tweeted last week.
The latest round of frenetic speculation comes as impeachment, which began with an anonymous whistleblower complaint, winds down. Former national security adviser John Bolton, whom Democrats fought in vain to have as a Senate trial witness, also has a book coming out and is a client of Javelin. Bolton, along with Simon & Schuster and Javelin, released a statement last month to quash allegations that they were behind the leak, while some Republican Trump allies have accused the National Security Council, where the manuscript was submitted for review, of being the culprit.
Anonymous first made waves in September 2018 when the New York Times published an anonymous opinion piece by a senior member of the Trump administration, telling of an internal “resistance” group of officials working to stymie the president’s worst inclinations.
Following the publication of the Times op-ed, a litany of Trump administration officials denied being the author, including Pence, Haley, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. President Trump, who called the author “gutless” and questioned whether a “so-called ‘Senior Administration Official'” really existed, even pushed then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate the source of the opinion piece.
A Warning was released on Nov. 19, seeking to tell voters “the truth” before the 2020 election. There were several explosive claims in the book that reflect poorly on Trump, including one that focuses on a group of high-level White House aides putting together a tally of Cabinet members they believed would support the use of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Another section of the book talks about how a group of senior Trump administration officials considered a “midnight self-massacre” in which they would resign together to draw attention to Trump’s behavior.
It is unclear if the author is still a member of the Trump administration, but in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” forum last year pledged to come forward. “Trump will hear from me, in my own name, before the 2020 election,” Anonymous said.
