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Senior Trump Admin Scramble To Deny That They Authored Anonymous NYT Op-Ed

Swarajya StaffSep 07, 2018, 12:48 PM | Updated 12:48 PM IST
Donald Trump (Scott Olson/Getty Images) 

Donald Trump (Scott Olson/Getty Images) 


Top Trump administration officials scrambled to deny authorship of an anonymous opinion column in The New York Times critical of the president reports The Wall Street Journal.

White House officials however, are reconciled to the possibility it may be difficult to establish the identity of the individual who is now viewed as an internal saboteur.

The intense speculation over the identity of the author prompted several top Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to issue their denials.

An anonymous op-ed, purportedly authored by an official of Trump administration, was published in the New York Times yesterday.

The writer claimed that he is working in tandem with other members of the “steady state” and engaged in a constant battle to rein in the president’s “worst inclinations”.

“The dilemma — which [Trump] does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” the author wrote.

“I would know. I am one of them. The author tried to differentiate himself from what he described as the popular “resistance of the left”. He also praises what he called as the administration’s accomplishments, especially in the area of deregulation and taxation reform, but goes on to state that policy achievements materialized “despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style”.

Trump’s lack of a core belief system or robust an ethical framework, the author claimed, was responsible for the troubles of the administration. The administration inside writes that “ the root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making,”

Ruling out the option of initiating impeachment proceeding given that it will cause a grave “constitutional crisis,” the author claimed that few cabinet secretaries considered the option in the early days of the administration.

“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,” he wrote. “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”.

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