White House aides are reportedly narrowing in on their search for who penned an anonymous New York Times op-ed purportedly by a senior Trump administration official.
The search for the author is down to a few possibilities, a source tells CNN. Kellyanne Conway separately said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that President Trump suspects the official is in the national security sector.
{mosads}Trump is reportedly “obsessed” with finding the author of the op-ed, CNN said, but White House chief of staff John Kelly has advised the president to avoid giving the piece further attention. The publication of the op-ed has roiled Washington.
Trump called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions Friday to investigate the anonymous senior official’s identity, citing national security concerns.
“We’re going to take a look at what he had, what he gave, what he’s talking about also where he is right now,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
“It’s national security,” he added.
Over two dozen officials, including Vice President Pence and a number of Cabinet secretaries, have denied that they penned the op-ed.
The White House came out swinging against the piece, with Trump calling the author “gutless” and suggesting treason may have been committed. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called on the anonymous “coward” to resign.
The op-ed blasted Trump as “amoral” and “anti-Democratic” and detailed officials’ efforts to curb his “misguided impulses” from within the administration.
“The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making,” the anonymous official wrote.
“Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.”