Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats are flatly denying they are the writer of an anonymous New York Times' essay that outlines a conspiracy within the administration to keep PresidentDonald Trump from doing anything detrimental to the country.
Their denials come as Trump has launched a massive mole hunt for the author behind the scandalous piece, which revealed members of his own administration are thwarting him.
Reports indicate the president is becoming more and more paranoid about who he can trust in the wake of the bombshell essay and a book by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward.
Vice President Pence is flatly denying he's the author of the anonymous New York Times op-ed
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said 'it's not mine'f
Pence's office tweeted a denial
Pence's denial was especially noteworthy after online speculation about who penned the piece narrowed in on the vice president, making him the odds on favorite as being the author.
Jarrod Agen, Pence's deputy chief of staff and communications director, tweeted that the vice president 'puts his name on his op-eds.'
'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,' he wrote Thursday morning.
And Pompeo told reporters during a visit to India that it wasn't him either.
'It's not mine,' he said, according to the Associated Press.
'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,' Pompeo said.
And Coats put out a statement denying either he or his deputy wrote the piece.
"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," he said.
Who wrote the piece has become Washington's new guessing game and even the president is playing.
But a new report in Axios revealed Trump had fretted about leaks long before the latest revelations from Woodward and The Times' piece.
The president carried the hand-written list of leakers for some time last year.
'He would basically be like, 'We've gotta get rid of them. The snakes are everywhere. But we're getting rid of them,'' a source close to Trump told the publication.
Another source said Trump would examine the back seats of the Roosevelt Room during a meeting and look at the aides gathered there.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats denied he wrote The Times piece
Trump claims a 'deep state' is working against him
'One day, after one of those meetings, he said, "Everything that just happened is going to leak. I don't know any of those people in the room." ... He was very paranoid about this,' according to the account.
A Trump friend told the Washington Post trump believes he can only trust his children.
The president reacted to The Times piece with “volcanic” anger and was “absolutely livid," The Post reported.
Trump suspects the author works on national security issues or in the Justice Department.
And the president is publicly expressing frustration that his own administration is working against him, claiming again he is a victim of 'the deep state.'
'The Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the Fake News Media, are going Crazy - & they don't know what to do,' he wrote on Twitter Thursday morning.
The New York Times opinion piece describes the president as 'impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective' and says the author is part of an organized 'resistance' whose goal is 'to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting [President] Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office.'
Within hours of its publication, online chatter Wednesday quickly focused on Pence as observers focused on one line describing the late Sen. John McCain as 'a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue.'
That word – lodestar – is a favorite of the vice president. But a senior White House official told DailyMail.com that suspicion is not focused on him or anyone in his office following a frank discussion among the VP's senior staff.
The official suspects 'lodestar' was purposely included in the op-ed to throw journalists off the scent.
The term means 'a star that leads or guides' or 'serves as an inspiration, model, or guide.'
And it was trending on Twitter.
Word by word the essay in the Times has been picked apart for clues of who wrote it with guessing ranging from administration figures like Defense Secretary James Mattis or Attorney General Jeff Sessions to more out-of-the-box contenders like first lady Melania Trump to funny memes on social media.
Other than that there are few clues to the person's identity.
The Times called the author a 'senior official in the Trump administration,' which could describe hundreds of people - either aides in the West Wing or top-level staff in a Cabinet department.
One major clue may have been dropped by the Times itself in a tweet, which described the author as a 'he.'
President Trump is said to be on the hunt for the writer
Witch hunt: Social media jokers poked fun at Trump's furious hunt for the anonymous person who wrote the op-ed in the New York Times
A Times spokeswoman later told Business Insider that the pronoun was a mistake that shouldn't be read as a tip-off.
'Senior opinion editors know the identity of the official, as we pointed out in our editor's note,' Danielle Ha said in an email. 'The tweet was drafted by someone who is not aware of the author's identity, including the gender, so the use of 'he' was an error.'
It is hard to tell from the piece what level of access the official had to the president. Although it describes meetings with the president, it steers clear of offering specific information that could point to the level of the writer's security clearance.
The author also fudges their political allegiance, saying they were not part of a 'resistance of the left' and supported some of Trump's policies.
The references to McCain and foreign policy have led to speculation it could be someone who works in the national security arena.
Names mentioned include James Mattis, John Kelly, Jeff Sessions and Dan Coats.
Others made the seemingly implausible suggestion that the writer could have come from within the Trump family - pointing the finger at Ivanka or her husband Jared Kushner, and even Melania.
Other random names have been suggested for the piece including first lady Melania Trump
And Ivanka Trump
Trump himself has called the writer 'gutless' and called on the newspaper to release the identity in the name of national security.
'Does the so-called 'Senior Administration Official' really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source?' Trump tweeted hours after the newspaper published a brutal opinion essay that the newspaper said was written by one of his senior-level appointees.
'If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!'
He has already ordered loyal aides to identify the sources of Woodward's book, and this probe could well be extended to encompass the Times article, CNN reported.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called on the author to 'do the right thing and resign.'
In an online introduction, the Times says the author's 'identity is known to us' and the person's 'job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers.'
The essay describes a 'quiet resistance' that by its nature has remained secret but isn't designed to bring Trump down – only to curb his worst impulses.
'Ours is not the popular 'resistance' of the left,' the author writes. 'We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.'
'But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.'
So rather than risk the invocation of the Constitution's 25th Amendment, the prescribed route for removing a president, he boasts that 'we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until – one way or another – it's over.'
Who wrote the New York Times' Trump 'resistance' op-ed?
Pence speaks on a mobile phone before attending the Republican policy luncheon in DC on September 5
Mike Pence - DENIES IT
Sleuths honed in on the word 'lodestar', a favorite of the vice president. Recently, he described the late John McCain as 'a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue'.
Others suggested the word - which means the guiding star of a ship - could have been deliberately included to throw journalists off the scent.
This was the verdict of a senior White House official who spoke to Dailymail.com. He said suspicion is not focused on him or anyone in his office following a frank discussion among the VP's senior staff.
Furthermore, Pence has never criticized Trump in public and writing the op-ed would almost certainly scupper any future bid for high office.
And in any case he has now publicly denied it.
Stephen Ford -
If the use of lodestar was not a trick, others said, then perhaps suspicion could fall on Pence's speechwriter.
Mattis gestures during a press briefing at the Pentagon on May 19, 2017
James Mattis -
The Secretary of Defense, despite having been a Trump favorite, has repeatedly sounded at odds with the commander-in-chief while discussing NATO, Russia and military strategy.
During one episode in Bob Woodward's recent book, Trump questioned the utility of US early warning systems in Alaska to identify a nuclear attack from North Korea.
Mattis is said to have schooled him. 'We're doing this in order to prevent World War III,' he reportedly said.
The Pentagon chief is said to have told colleagues after the incident that Trump had the mental ability of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader.'
On Tuesday, Mattis denied the account, saying in a statement of his own: 'The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence.'
Kelly at the White House on August 20
John Kelly -
The White House chief of staff was also quoted in Woodward's book as having called Trump an 'idiot'.
'It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails,' he allegedly said.
'We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.'
Kelly denied making the claims in a statement put out by the White House.
'The idea that I ever called the President is not true, in fact it's exactly the opposite,' he said. 'This is both a pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from his many successes.'
Sessions speaks about immigration and law enforcement at Lackawanna College on June 15, 2018
Jeff Sessions -
The Attorney General has a motive, having been repeatedly barracked by Trump for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.
Just this week he let loose on him for charges the Department of Justice brought against two sitting, Republican members in recent days, complaining that the indictments handicapped the incumbents and jeopardized the GOP's standing in the House.
The president also compared Sessions unfavorably to FBI director he fired, 'Lyin' James Comey,' saying they'd become martyrs to the very same lawmakers who'd previously despised them after resisting orders from Trump.
This week, the Attorney General also found out the president had called him 'mentally retarded', according to Woodward. Trump denied having said this.
Coats addresses the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on July 19
Dan Coats - DENIES IT
The director of national intelligence, was also put forward as a candidate, having previously veered from the Trump line.
Told of the president's plan to invite Vladimir Putin to the White House, Coats said 'That is going to be special' - a comment that angered Trump.
He later 'clarified' his comments, made during an interview at the Aspen Institute security forum in Colorado, by saying his response 'was in no way meant to be disrespectful or criticize the actions of the president'.
Trump drew heavy criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over his summit last Monday in Helsinki, Finland, with Putin, when he seemed reluctant to blame Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
McGahn is interviewed at a conference in Gaylord, Maryland, on February 22
Don McGahn -
The White House counsel is planning to leave the White House in the fall so may not fear the consequences of being exposed as the author.
He has also clashed with Trump in the past.
This includes declining his order to fire Robert Mueller, who is overseeing an investigation into alleged Russian interference that the president describes as a 'witch hunt'.
Indeed, McGahn has risked the president's anger by spending 30 hours in interviews with Mueller's team on three separate occasions in under a year.
As with all the theories about the identity of the author, this one relies on conjecture rather than any solid facts.
Melania and Ivanka watch on ahead of the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in Hempstead, New York
...Melania or Ivanka? -
The first lady was another (unlikely) candidate.
Twitter commenters noted she had been accused of sending several coded messages expressing opposition to her husband's policies.
This included wearing a jacket saying 'I really don't care, do u?' when visiting hostels for migrant children.
Ivanka, meanwhile, has previously said she would work to get her voice heard through her father but has seemingly failed to do so - particularly in the case of family separations, which she was 'vehemently' opposed to.
Her husband, Jared, is a senior adviser and also could be involved, some have said. That said, the idea the writer came from within the Trump family seems unlikely.
Linkhienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/06/its-not-me-pence-and-pompeo-deny-they-are-behind-infamous-new-york-times-essay/
Main photo article Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats are flatly denying they are the writer of an anonymous New York Times’ essay that outlines a conspiracy within the administration to keep PresidentDonald Trump from doing anything d...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/06/14/4FBE632800000578-6139009-image-a-1_1536241672159.jpg
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