Miles Taylor reveals he is author of “Anonymous” New York Times column.
WASHINGTON >> Miles Taylor, the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, was the anonymous author of The New York Times op- ed article in 2018 whose description of President Donald Trump as “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective” roiled Washington and set off a hunt for his identity, Taylor confirmed Wednesday.
Taylor was also the anonymous author of “A Warning,” a book he wrote the following year that described the president as an “undisciplined” and “amoral” leader whose abuse of power threatened the foundations of American democracy. He acknowledged that he was the author of both the book and the opinion article in an interview and in a three-page statement he posted online.
Taylor resigned from Homeland Security in June 2019 and went public with his criticism of Trump this past summer. He released a video just before the start of the Republican National Convention declaring that the president was unfit for office and endorsed Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee.
But Taylor, who had repeatedly denied being Anonymous, did not reveal himself to be the author of the opinion article and book at the time.
On Wednesday, Trump claimed not to know who Taylor is, despite the fact that there are numerous pictures of the president with Taylor in meetings.
“Who is Miles Taylor? Said he was ‘anonymous’, but I don’t know him — never even heard of him,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Just another @nytimes
SCAM — he worked in conjunction with them. Also worked for Big Tech’s @ Google. Now works for Fake News @CNN. They should fire, shame, and punish everybody associated with this FRAUD on the American people!”
The op- ed pages of The Times are managed separately from the news department, which was never told of Anonymous’ identity.
Taylor served for two years as a top aide to Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump’s third homeland security secretary, and wrote in the Times that he was part of a cadre of officials around Trump who were quietly working to “frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”
As a senior administration official, Taylor often interacted with the president at the White House.