Charlie Kirk: Republican Donor Offers $50,000 Reward for Identity of NYT Op-Ed Writer

Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, in Washington on July 26, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

A prominent Republican donor is offering $50,000 to anyone who can reveal the identity of The New York Times op-ed writer who claims to be part of the “resistance” inside the White House.

Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk announced in a tweet on Sept. 6 that he had just gotten off the phone with the donor, and said people could send him a message directly if they had any info.

“Time to declare war on the deep state,” Kirk said in his tweet.

In a piece published Sept. 5, the anonymous writer says that he or she is not part of the “popular ’resistance' of the left,” and praises some of the administration’s accomplishments before saying that she or he is one of “many” administration officials seeking to “frustrate parts of [President Donald Trump’s] agenda.”

“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,” the opinion piece, titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” says. 

There has been frenzied speculation in the media and online about who the author could be. All of the senior administration officials have denied being the author, Trump noted to reporters.

Since the beginning of his candidacy, Trump has called for an end to the corruption in Washington, particularly the “deep state,” where unelected officials seek to either control or thwart the actions of the people elected to serve.

On Sept. 7, Trump called on the Justice Department to investigate the author. “I would say [Attorney General] Jeff [Sessions] should be investigating who the author of that piece was because I really believe it’s national security,” he told reporters.

Trump has also called on the paper to reveal the identity of the opinion writer, saying in a Sept. 5 tweet, “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”

However, on Sept. 7, he stopped short of saying action should be taken against the Times.

“I’m looking at that right now. It only happened yesterday,” he said.