WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on an unsigned op-ed in the New York Times from a senior White House administration official sounding an alarm about President Donald Trump’s “amorality” and “impetuous” leadership style (all times local):
7:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump is calling on The New York Times to turn the author of an op-ed piece critical of his administration “over to government at once!”
Trump was reacting in the Wednesday evening tweet to the newspaper’s publication of a column by an unnamed senior administration official who writes of an internal “resistance” effort “working diligently from within” to impede Trump’s “worst inclinations” and ill-conceived parts of his agenda.
Trump tweets: “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”
Trump earlier tweeted: “TREASON?”
The essay immediately triggered a wild guessing game as to the author’s identity on social media, in newsrooms and inside the West Wing, where officials were blindsided by its publication.
___
5:35 p.m.
The White House press secretary says the author of a “resistance” op-ed published by The New York Times is a “coward” who should “do the right thing and resign.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the author - identified only as a senior administration official - has chosen to “deceive, rather than support, the duly elected President of the United States.” She also accuses the individual of putting himself or herself ahead of the will of the American people.
Sanders also says the Times should apologize for publishing it.
In the piece published online Wednesday, the official sounds an alarm about Trump’s “amorality” and “impetuous” leadership style. The writer adds that Trump aides are aware of the president’ faults and are working in opposition to “do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.”
___
5:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump says it’s “really a disgrace” that an unsigned op-ed critical of him and written by a senior administration official has been published.
The piece was published online Wednesday by The New York Times.
In response, Trump says of the Times: “They don’t like Donald Trump and I don’t like them.”
In the op-ed piece, the unidentified senior administration official sounds an alarm about Trump’s “amorality” and “impetuous” leadership style. The writer adds that Trump aides are aware of the president’s faults and “we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.”
Trump describes the editorial as “gutless.”
___
4:20 p.m.
A senior administration official is sounding an alarm about President Donald Trump’s “amorality” and “impetuous” leadership style in an unsigned opinion piece published in The New York Times.
The newspaper describes the author of the unsigned column only as “a senior official in the Trump administration.” The White House is not immediately responding to a request for comment.
The writer says Trump aides are aware of the president’s faults and “we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.”
The writer alleges “there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment” because of the “instability” witnessed in the president.
The writer adds: “This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.