Denials are pouring out from top members of the Trump administration on Thursday as they reject responsibility for the anonymous New York Times op-ed published Wednesday afternoon.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed the growing rumor mill via Twitter.
“The media’s wild obsession with the identity of the anonymous coward is recklessly tarnishing the reputation of thousands of great Americans who proudly serve our country and work for President Trump,” she wrote. “Stop. If you want to know who this gutless loser is, call the opinion desk of the failing NYT.”
For those of you asking for the identity of the anonymous coward: pic.twitter.com/RpWYPHa6To
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 6, 2018
First lady Melania Trump released a statement addressing the anonymous writer directly: “You are not protecting this country, you are sabotaging it with your cowardly actions.”
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump slams anonymous New York Times opinion piece as ‘gutless’
She criticized the media’s use of anonymous sources.
“If a person is bold enough to accuse people of negative actions, they have a responsibility to publicly stand by their words and people have the right to be able to defend themselves,” Mrs. Trump said in the statement.
Mrs. Trump said freedom of speech “is an important pillar of our nation’s founding principles and a free press is important to our democracy.”
“The press should be fair, unbiased and responsible. Unidentified sources have become the majority of the voices people hear about in today’s news. People with no names are writing our nation’s history. Words are important, and accusations can lead to severe consequences. If the person is bold enough to accuse people of negative actions, they have a responsibility to publicly stand by their words and people have the right to be able to defend themselves.”
So far, seven officials have reportedly denied being the author, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Several officials have issued statements distancing themselves from speculation.
Mr. Pence’s spokesman Jarrod Agen tweeted, “Our office is above such amateur acts.”
Borrowing from President Trump’s language, Mr. Agen also described the piece as “false, illogical, and gutless.”
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 (@VPComDir) September 6, 2018
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats released an official statement Thursday morning that said accusations assigning responsibility to him or his principal deputy is “patently false.”
“We did not. From the beginning of our tenure, we have insisted that the entire [intelligence community] remain focused on our mission to provide the President and policymakers with the best intelligence possible,” he said.
Mr. Pompeo also denied his involvement to reporters at an event in New Delhi.
“I come from a place where if you’re not in a position to execute the commander’s intent, you have a singular option, that is to leave,” he said.
DHS press secretary Tyler Houlton said in a statement: “Secretary [Kirstjen] Nielsen is focused on leading the men and women of DHS and protecting the homeland — not writing anonymous & false opinion pieces for the New York Times.”
Tony Sayegh, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department, also issued a denial on behalf of Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, saying he is “honored to serve POTUS and the American people.”
In a rare move, The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed from a mysterious senior administration official.
The writer described a chaotic White House under Mr. Trump’s tenure, and acts taken by officials embedded into the administration to undermine some of the president’s actions that are “detrimental to the health of our republic.”
The unnamed author also said there were “early whispers” in the president’s own Cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would trigger a complex process of trying to replace Mr. Trump. It was ratified by Congress after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Two additional White House officials came forward and reaffirmed the op-ed to Axios on Thursday.
“I find the reaction to the NYT op-ed fascinating — that people seem so shocked that there is a resistance from the inside,” one of the unnamed officials told Axios. “A lot of us [were] wishing we’d been the writer, I suspect … I hope he [Trump] knows — maybe he does? — that there are dozens and dozens of us.”
Mr. Trump slammed the op-ed on Wednesday, questioning if the official 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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