Anonymous op-ed tells of ‘resistance’ New York Times publishes piece by ‘senior official’ at White House about move to derail Trump agenda

WASHINGTON — Many senior officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration have been working from within to frustrate parts of his agenda to protect the country from his worst impulses, an anonymous Trump official wrote in a column published by The New York Times on Wednesday.

In the piece, the official, claiming to be part of the resistance but not on the left, described “early whispers” among members of Trump’s Cabinet to take steps to remove him as president but added they decided against it to avoid a constitutional crisis.

The official wrote that the root of the problem was that Trump is amoral and not moored to any discernible principles that guide his decision-making.

“It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room,” the author wrote.

Asked about the column on Wednesday during a White House event, Trump called it a “gutless editorial,” bashed The New York Times as “failing” and ticked off economic achievements that he said were proof of his leadership.

Staring into the cameras, he said: “Nobody is going to come close to beating me in 2020 because of what we’ve done.”

The Republican president later fired off a oneword message on Twitter: “TREASON?”

In another tweet, he said: “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/ her over to government at once!”

The essay immediately started a guessing game as to the author’s identity on social media, in newsrooms and inside the West Wing, where officials were blindsided by its publication.

And in a blistering statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders accused the author of choosing to “deceive” the president by remaining in the administration.

“He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people,” she said. “The coward should do the right thing and resign.”

Sanders also called on the Times to “issue an apology” for publishing the piece, calling it a “pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed.”

The Times took what it called the rare step of publishing an opinion column by the official under an agreement to keep the author’s name secret. It said the senior administration official’s job would be jeopardized by its disclosure.

The opinion piece followed publication on Tuesday of the first excerpts from a book by famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward describing chaos in the White House.

Woodward reported that Defense Secretary James Mattis rejected a recommendation from Trump for the US military to kill Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to excerpts published by The Washington Post.

Mattis dismissed the book as “a uniquely Washington brand of literature”, and Trump has called it “total fiction”.

In the Times piece, the official wrote: “Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the Cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president.

“But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over,” the author added.

Under the 25th Amendment, adopted in 1967, the vice president and a majority of either Cabinet officials or “such other body as Congress may by law provide” may declare in writing that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”.

It has never been used to strip a president from power and would be a complicated process.

“We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous,” the writer said. “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 we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over.” Author of anonymous New York Times op-ed about the workings of the White House