So who wrote it?
From newsrooms to coffee-house chatter to the White House itself, that was the big question on everyone’s minds Wednesday night after the New York Times published an anonymous, bombshell anti-Trump op-ed written by a “senior administration official.”
The article, which described an “amoral” and “reckless” President Donald Trump being covertly held in check by the “adults in the room” to preserve the country’s democratic principles, sent Trump into a rage, the Washington Post reported. Trump said the author was gutless, and tweeted “TREASON?” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the author was “pathetic” and should resign. But the author remained a mystery.
Read: N.Y. Times publishes anti-Trump op-ed from what it says is senior administration official
The White House was in “total meltdown” Wednesday night, a source told Politico. “It’s like the horror movies when everyone realizes the call is coming from inside the house,” another source told the Post.
Some criticized the Times for running an anonymous opinion piece, but editorial page editor Jim Bennett told Vanity Fair that the newspaper had a responsibility to run it.
“Our job is to publish op-eds that further the public’s understanding of what the hell is going on, and I think this piece makes a significant contribution.” Jim Bennett, New York Times editorial page editor
“The question for us was, does making this unusual grant, is it merited by the significance of the piece? We feel that it was,” Bennett said.
So who was it? That’s the million-dollar question. Literally, since the author could very well receive a book deal once his or her identity is revealed.
The Times, at least, isn’t telling. In an interview with CNN’s Brian Stelter, Times op-ed editor Jim Dao said the official reached out through an intermediary several says ago. He said the Times did speak to the author directly. “We were simply trying to abide by the standard that the Times in general would use when referring to someone who’s not named,” Dao told CNN.
Only a “very small number of people within the Times who know this person’s identity,” Dao said, and the Times used “special precautions” to protect their identity.
While there was speculation the author was male, based on a Times tweet that referred to the author as “he,” the Times later said the tweet was a mistake, and the writer of the tweet did not have knowledge of the official’s identity.
At newspapers, the opinion and editorial departments are separate from the newsroom, and Vanity Fair reported that Times reporters were working just as hard as everyone else to figure out who their colleagues’ anonymous source was. “Is the entire newspaper bound by the promise of anonymity? I don’t think so, but this is fascinating,” Times reporter Jodi Kantor tweeted.
The op-ed itself left few clues, but some said the use of the word “lodestar” may have been a tip — Vice President Mike Pence has publicly used that word on a number of occasions. Other prominent names mentioned as the potential author include outgoing White House counsel Don McGahn, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and chief of staff John Kelly. Some armchair sleuths noted that the term “senior administration official” is broad enough to include hundreds, or even thousands, of staffers in and around the White House.
The Post reported that the White House suspects the official works on national security issues or in the State Department.
“The problem for the president is it could be so many people,” one administration official told the Post. “You can’t rule it down to one person. Everyone is trying, but it’s impossible.”
