Report: Trump suspects the New York Times op-ed writer works in national security or the Justice Department

(Image credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

published 6 September 2018

An "absolutely livid" President Trump believes someone who works on national security issues or is part of the Justice Department is behind the anonymous New York Times op-ed published Wednesday that portrays Trump as behaving "in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic," The Washington Post reports.

Publicly, Trump has blasted the "failing New York Times" for running the op-ed, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called it "pathetic," "reckless," and "selfish." Inside the White House, Trump and his aides are frantically trying to figure out who is behind the op-ed, two people familiar with the matter told the Post, analyzing speech patterns and looking for clues to the author's identity. Trump reacted to the op-ed with "volcanic" anger and a friend of the president's told the Post that Trump now believes the only people he can trust now are his kids.

"The problem for the president is it could be so many people," one official said. "You can't rule it down to one person. Everyone is trying, but it's impossible." In a group text between Trump aides and outside allies, one participant said "the sleeper cells have awoken," and a former official told the Post the situation is "like the horror movies when everyone realizes the call is coming from inside the house." Read more about Trump's anger and paranoia, and how the White House's amateur detectives are frantically trying to figure out who wrote the op-ed, at The Washington Post.