Trump Demands Probe of Author Behind Anonymous Op-Ed

President Donald Trump said on Sept. 7 that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should investigate the identity of the author of an anonymous editorial claiming they were part of a network of government officials working covertly to thwart parts of Trump’s agenda.

The president told reporters aboard Air Force One that the op-ed is a matter of national security, since the author may be attending sensitive meetings concerning China, Russia, or North Korea.

“I would say Jeff [Sessions] should be investigating who the author of that piece was because I really believe it’s national security,” Trump said.

The anonymous editorial was published in the New York Times on Sept. 5. Trump has already demanded that the newspaper release the identity of the author, and wondered if the publication amounts to treason.

“It’s a disgrace that somebody can do that,” Trump said. “I think it’s more disgraceful that the New York Times would do it.”

The president said that he is considering what action, if any, can be taken against the New York Times. He also said it is still unclear what the consequences would be for the official.

The White House slammed the editorial, the author, and the New York Times in a blistering statement issued on Sept. 5. White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders said that almost 62 million people voted for Trump and that “none of them voted for a gutless, anonymous source to the failing New York Times.”

“We are disappointed, but not surprised, that the paper chose to publish this pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed,” Sanders said in a statement. “This is a new low for the so-called ‘paper of record,’ and it should issue an apology, just as it did after the election for its disastrous coverage of the Trump campaign.”

The president noted that all of the top administration officials have already denied authorship of the letter. Speculation is swirling about who the official may be or if the newspaper fell prey to an elaborate scheme. Charlie Kirk, the president of Turning Point USA, is offering a $50,000 reward from a Republican donor for the identity of the official.

“He is offering $50,000 cash to information that will lead to the identification and termination of the New York Times ‘anonymous’ author,” Kirk wrote on Twitter. “Time to declare war on the deep state.”

The editorial validated what many have claimed since Trump took office last year: that a deep state composed of a cabal of unelected officials within the government is undermining the president’s agenda and the will of the American people who elected him. The anonymous author prefers the title “steady state.”

“This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state,” the unnamed official wrote. “It’s the work of the steady state.”

That a covert network of officials was operating within the government to derail Trump’s agenda became clear in the first months of the presidency. The Trump administration was inundated with over 100 leaks of classified information during the first three months in office, according to a report by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The rate of leaks was seven times higher compared to the same period in the presidencies of Barack Obama and George W. Bush.