Trump's Inner Circle Denies Penning Scathing NYT Op-Ed
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WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) - The Trump administration's inner-circle went on the offensive Thursday while responding to the anonymous New York Times op-ed bashing President Trump.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted the author is a 'gutless loser', while First Lady Melania Trump said he or she is sabotaging the country with their cowardly actions.
Thursday night, Trump continued the attack at a campaign rally in Billings, Montana.
"The latest act of resistance is the op-ed published in the failing New York Times by an anonymous, really and anonymous gutless coward," he told his crowd of supporters.
The article's author claims many of the President's appointees are "thwarting Mr. Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office."
The President called on the newspaper to name the writer for the sake of national security.
"Unelected deep state operatives who defy the voters to push their own secret agendas are a threat to democracy itself," he said.
Trump's administration has frequently seen different factions in the White House working against each other. This op-ed has led to a lot of West Wing fingerpointing.
"The events of just the last couple of days is likely to erode whatever trust there has been on the White House staff and particularly with the president and his sense of faith that those around him are not leaking negative stories about him," said USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page.
Nearly every Cabinet member has issued a statement denying being the author.
"I think it's a disgrace," said Vice President Mike Pence. "They ought to do the honorable thing and they ought to resign."
"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," said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi suggested Republicans are to blame.
"Republicans in Congress have enabled so much of the mayhem that exists in the White House to occur," she said.
The editor of the op-ed section, James Dao, said he thinks the author reached a breaking point and felt the need to speak out. Dao told the Times' own podcast, The Daily, that only a handful of people know who the writer is and he can't see any circumstance where they identify him.
