Report: Trump suspects the New York Times op-ed writer works in national security or the Justice Department
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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Political cartoons for December 20Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include drowning rats, the ACA, and more
-
5 fairly vain cartoons about Vanity Fair’s interviews with Susie WilesCartoon Artists take on demolition derby, alcoholic personality, and more
-
Joanna Trollope: novelist who had a No. 1 bestseller with The Rector’s WifeIn the Spotlight Trollope found fame with intelligent novels about the dramas and dilemmas of modern women
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
