Trump Officials Are Tripping Over Themselves to Disavow That Anonymous Op-Ed

The first lady also chimed in with a non-denial.

As President Donald Trump continues to fume over a bruising New York Times op-ed by an unnamed administration official detailing their “resistance” work to combat the president’s worst impulses, senior officials are coming out of the woodwork to publicly disavow the anonymous writing and deny responsibility.

Here’s the parade of people who 100 percent, definitely did not do it:

Vice President Mike Pence 

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley

White House Counsel Don McGahn 

Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon

First Lady Melania Trump issued a statement condemning anonymous sources, which didn’t exactly deny any role in the publishing the op-ed. It also notably did not take issue with any of its contents:

Even still, their scrambled effort isn’t likely to do much in the way of tempering the White House’s inevitable witch hunt to track down the author. Just hours after the editorial was published, Trump demanded the Times‘ release the name of the author “for national security purposes.”

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate