Top officials of the Trump administration, including the office of the Vice President Mike Pence, rushed Thursday to deny that they were the author of an anonymous op-ed in The New York Times that slammed the working style of President Donald Trump.
Trump has described the explosive op-ed as treasonous and has asked the leading daily to reveal the identity of the author who has been identified as a senior administration official.
In the op-ed titled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump administration", the official said he and like-minded colleagues have vowed to work diligently to frustrate the President's agenda and his "worst inclinations".
The editors of the newspaper know the identity of the senior administration official, which has not been revealed to protect his job.
The White House has called for the resignation of the anonymous official and launched an intense investigation to find out who wrote the highly damaging op-ed.
A number of top officials of the Trump administration came out in open, denying that they were the author.
More From This Section
"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," Pence's spokesperson said in a tweet Thursday.
"It's not mine", Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at a news conference in New Delhi, where he is for the 2+2 dialogue with India.
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, he said.
"If that piece is true, if it's accurate, if it's actually I think they described it as a senior administration official they should not well have chosen to take a disgruntled, deceptive, bad actor's word for anything and put it in their newspaper," Pompeo said.
It is sad more than anything else that the US has come to where you have again. if it is what it's purported to be, it is sad that you have someone who would make that choice, he said.
"I come from a place where, if you're not in a position to execute the commander's intent, you have a singular option:It is to leave. And this person -according to The New York Times - chose not only to stay but to undermine what President Trump and this administration are trying to do. And I ought to tell you, just I find - I find the media's efforts in this regard to undermine this administration incredibly disturbing," Pompeo said.
A similar denial came from Daniel Coats, Director of National Intelligence.
"Speculation that The New York Times op-ed was written by me or my Principal Deputy is patently false. We did not. From the beginning of our tenure, we have insisted that the entire IC remain focused on our mission to provide the President and policymakers with the best intelligence possible," Coats said.
In a tweet, Trump alleged that the Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the fake news media, are going crazy and do not know what to do.
"The economy is booming like never before, jobs are at historic highs, soon two Supreme Court Justices & maybe declassification to find additional corruption. Wow!" he said.