Two top Trump administration officials have denied writing the anonymous New York Times op-ed that claims there are members of the administration that are actively working to resist the president and combat his “worst inclinations.”
Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both denied on Thursday authoring the op-ed, claiming the author should be ashamed for writing it and that people should take too much credence in the words.
[New: Here are the Trump officials denying they wrote anonymous New York Times op-ed]
“The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds. The @nytimes should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed. Our office is above such amateur acts,” Jarrod Agen, communications director for Pence, wrote in a tweet Thursday.
Speaking to reporters in India, Pompeo said: “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the New York Times, a liberal newspaper that has attacked this administration relentlessly, chose to print such a piece.” Pompeo said that if the author really is a senior administration official, the Times should not have chosen to “take a disgruntled, deceptive, bad actor’s word for anything.”
The Times published the anonymous op-ed Wednesday that described members of the Trump administration working “diligently” to stop the president’s worst impulses and move against parts of his agenda. The author claimed they weren’t alone and that the group is doing it because they believe their primary duty is to protect the country.
The president responded to the op-ed hours later, questioning whether the unnamed staffer really exists.
“Does the so-called ‘Senior Administration Official’ really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once,” the president tweeted Wednesday.
Trump is reportedly increasingly concerned about those around him in the White House. A number of events, like audio recordings and leaks from former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, have shaken the president’s confidence in those around him.
Journalist Bob Woodward is set to release a book that paints the picture of a White House in perpetual turmoil, with top aides often finding themselves at odds with the president to the point that some, such as former White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, offered their resignations.
The Woodward book has only worked to reinforce the president’s belief that there are leakers around him in the White House that are actively working to undermine his presidency.
