September 6, 2018

Trump Officials Are Tripping Over Themselves to Disavow That Anonymous Op-Ed

The first lady also chimed in with a non-denial.

As President Donald Trump continues to fume over a bruising New York Times op-ed by an unnamed administration official detailing their “resistance” work to combat the president’s worst impulses, senior officials are coming out of the woodwork to publicly disavow the anonymous writing and deny responsibility.

Here’s the parade of people who 100 percent, definitely did not do it:

Vice President Mike Pence 

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley

White House Counsel Don McGahn 

Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon

First Lady Melania Trump issued a statement condemning anonymous sources, which didn’t exactly deny any role in the publishing the op-ed. It also notably did not take issue with any of its contents:

Even still, their scrambled effort isn’t likely to do much in the way of tempering the White House’s inevitable witch hunt to track down the author. Just hours after the editorial was published, Trump demanded the Times‘ release the name of the author “for national security purposes.”

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That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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