Anonymous ‘New York Times’ Author Likely Not A Senior Administration Official, Chris Christie Claims
“I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” is how the anonymous author began his, or her, controversial New York Times op-ed.
A lot has been written about the piece; journalists have pondered on who the author might be, and U.S. and international media has been reporting on the op-ed for days. In spite of all the speculation, denials, inaccuracies, and theories, no one has ever questioned the New York Times‘s claim that the op-ed author is a senior administration official, until now.
The former New Jersey governor, Republican Chris Christie, said Sunday that the author is likely not a senior administration official, the Washington Examiner reports.
“The people who have denied so far and the list of people that have denied encompass almost all the people that you and I would determine are senior administration officials. If someone is out there outright lying about their participation in something like that, that would then force them to out this person.”
That is how Christie explained his rationale. As the Washington Examiner noted, a slew of senior Trump administration publicly denied writing the op-ed.
- Vice President Mike Pence
- Secretary of Defense James Mattis
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
- Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
- CIA Director Gina Haspel
- U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Nikki Haley
- Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney
- Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao
- Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
- Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats
- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
- White House Counsel Don McGahn
Along with the aforementioned senior administration officials, 14 more have denied being the author of the op-ed, either in interviews with the press, through official statements, or via Twitter.
Whoever the author of the New York Times piece is, according to former Governor Chris Christie, they are certainly not a senior administration official. A high-level official, Christie claims, would have been outed by now.
“If you get to the point where the policy differences or the personal differences are profound enough that you can’t be proud of being there anymore, then get up and leave.”
But, apart from slamming the author of the anonymous NYT piece, Christie attacked Bob Woodward, the journalist and author of Fear: Trump in the White House. Christie, who is also mentioned in Fear, claims that Woodward never bothered to call him, and fact-check the details.
Chris Christie: NYT op-ed author likely not a high-level staffer based on denials https://t.co/CCoTGdIREQ
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 9, 2018
“Bob may in fact be relying on people who are making things up and he didn’t do his homework,” Christie said.
Early today, citing sources close to the White House, CNN reported that President Trump has narrowed down his search for the anonymous author. The president, however, reportedly remains obsessed with finding the individual.
As the Inquisitr reported earlier today, another prominent Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham, said that the New York Times published the anonymous op-ed simply because the Trump-Russia narrative is “falling apart.”
However, as Politico noted, Republican Senator Rand Paul raised the prospect of subjecting administration officials to a polygraph examination, which could further intensify the hunt, and put more more pressure on the anonymous author.
