Before an unidentified senior administration official published a brutal op-ed in The New York Times on Wednesday afternoon claiming to be a member of an internal "resistance" faction saving America from a dangerously erratic and amoral president, President Trump had already ordered "a real witch hunt in the West Wing and throughout his administration, asking loyal aides to help determine who cooperated with" Bob Woodward's new book, Fear, CNN reports. Trump is "directing the response strategy personally," and he wants names of both Woodward collaborators and the Times resistor.

"The hunt for the mole began as soon as The New York Times published" the op-ed, Politico reports. "One senior administration official described a White House in 'total meltdown' by Wednesday evening." Inside the West Wing, "top officials canceled afternoon meetings and huddled behind closed doors to strategize about how to expose the author," White House officials told The Wall Street Journal. "Some officials called reporters to chase down rumors about who was behind the op-ed, and whether it came from inside the White House or a Cabinet-level agency."

The scramble to "unmask the writer," The Associated Press suggested, is "a House of Cards-style plot twist in an already over-the-top administration," and some viewed Trump's "extraordinary" demand that the Times immediately unmask the writer as playing "into the very concerns about the president's impulses raised by the essay's author."

"Aides fear how Trump will react as more embarrassing bits are reported" from Woodward's as-yet-unpublished book, Gabriel Sherman reports at Vanity Fair. "More than any previous episode," though, Politico says, the Times "op-ed seemed to signal a shift from now-routine internal chaos and infighting to a gathering, and sustained, revolt against the commander in chief by those closest to him." At the same time, an outside adviser tells Sherman, "Everybody on the inside knows it's true. It's just Fox News people who don't want to admit how crazy he is." Peter Weber

The United States is contemplating placing Venezuela on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

In September, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and two other GOP senators sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a letter stating that Venezuela has ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but did not offer any concrete evidence. They asked for Venezuela to be added to the list, which has four countries on it: North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Sudan.

A U.S. official told Reuters those countries have "repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism," and for Venezuela to be added to the list, there has to be sufficient proof. Venezuela is experiencing food and medicine shortages and hyperinflation, and if the country ends up on the list, it could limit economic assistance from the United States. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said he is the victim of an "economic war" with the U.S. Catherine Garcia

There are lots of words you could use to describe President Trump, but Seth Meyers thinks there's one that everyone can admit fits him best: weird.

"He is a weird man," Meyers said on Monday's Late Night. "Just a flag hugging, umbrella ditching, can't do a normal handshake kind of weirdo." One of the more bizarre things Trump does is make up an outlandish lie about another country, which can easily be fact checked and proven untrue. In February 2017, for example, Trump claimed there was an attack in Sweden, when there was not. The "deeply weird president" was at it again on Saturday in California, when he started talking about taking care of the "floors of the forest" like they do in Finland.

Trump declared that the president of Finland told him in his "forest nation" they "spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning" and in turn, they don't deal with things like devastating fires. The president of Finland later clarified he did not say that people in his country are going around raking 24/7, and Meyers is certain that "we're a week away from the president of Romania calling a press conference to say, 'I did not tell President Trump that vampires are real.'" Trump, Meyers concludes, has to "concoct fantastical lies" because they "reinforce his deluded worldview, and they're easier to swallow than reality." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia

On Monday, the White House announced it had restored CNN reporter Jim Acosta's hard press pass, following a legal battle.

At the same time, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and deputy chief of staff Bill Shine announced new guidelines for journalists covering press conferences. They are only allowed to ask one question, with any follow-ups answered at the discretion of President Trump or the White House official holding the press conference. When a journalist is done asking their question, they must also hand over the microphone. Anyone violating those rules could have their press pass suspended or revoked.

The White House announced it was revoking Acosta's pass on Nov. 7 following a testy exchange with Trump, and his refusal to give the microphone to an aide. CNN took the matter to court, and a judge temporarily restored Acosta's press pass on Friday. Catherine Garcia

In 2017, Ivanka Trump used her personal email account to send hundreds of emails to White House aides, her assistants, and Cabinet officials, several people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

Many of these emails were in violation of federal records rules, they said, and White House ethics officials found out about her personal email use while responding to a public records lawsuit. Nearly 100 of the emails were about government policies and official White House business, and hundreds were related to her work schedule and travel, the Post reports.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, President Trump made Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state a major issue. A spokesman for Ivanka Trump's attorney Abbe Lowell told the Post she did not know about records rules when she sent the emails, and none of her messages contained classified information. "While transitioning into government, after she was given an official account but until the White House provided her the same guidance they had given others who stared before she did, Ms. Trump sometimes used her personal account, almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning her family," Peter Mirijanian said.

Using a personal email account to conduct government business could violate the Presidential Records Act, which requires all White House communications and records be preserved. People close to Trump said she never received reminders sent to White House staffers telling them not to use private email. For more on Trump's use of private email and some of the messages that she sent, visit The Washington Post. Catherine Garcia

The 5,800 U.S. troops sent to the southern border to provide assistance to Customs and Border Protection agents should all be home by Christmas, Army Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan told Politico on Monday.

"Our end date right now is 15 December, and I've got no indications from anybody that we'll go beyond that," Buchanan said. The troops were deployed to the border before Election Day, with President Trump saying they were there to deal with an "invasion" of migrants headed to the United States from Central America. Most of the migrants have said they are fleeing their countries because of extreme poverty and violence, and thousands remain hundreds of miles away. After the deployment, Trump was criticized by Democrats and accused of using the troops as part of a political stunt. Catherine Garcia

Three people were killed when a gunman opened fire at Mercy Hospital in Chicago on Monday afternoon.

The victims include police officer Samuel Jimenez, a married father of three who joined the Chicago Police Department in 2017, and two hospital employees. The city "lost a doctor, pharmaceutical assistant, and a police officer, all going about their day, all doing what they loved," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. "This just tears at the soul of our city. It is the face and a consequence of evil."

The gunman is dead, a police spokesman said, and it's not known at this time if he took his own life or was shot by officers. The Associated Press reports the incident began in the parking lot, when the gunman began arguing with a woman he was in a relationship with, and escalated when a friend intervened. The woman, a hospital employee, was shot and killed, and when police officers arrived, the suspect ran inside the hospital and exchanged gunfire with officers.

This is a developing news story, and has been updated throughout. Catherine Garcia