The op-ed -- written by a "senior Trump administration official" who says they are part of an internal "resistance" working to thwart parts of Trump's agenda and block his worst impulses -- immediately enraged President Donald Trump and touched off a search to find the author.
On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats issued public denials, an indication of the nerve the op-ed has struck within the Trump administration and the need to quell suspicions that Trump's top people are behind it.
"The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds. The (New York Times) should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed. Our office is above such amateur acts," Pence's deputy chief of staff and communications director Jarrod Agen tweeted Thursday.
Speculation arose online that it could be someone in Pence's office -- or Pence himself -- given the op-ed's inclusion of the word "lodestar" and several speeches Pence gave using the unusual term. In the op-ed, the official also claimed there were "early whispers within" Trump's Cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would require a majority of Cabinet officials to declare to Congress they believe the President is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office" and thus leave the vice president in charge.
Taking questions from reporters in India, Pompeo said the op-ed is "not mine." He also suggested that the author should quit their job instead of staying to "undermine what President Trump and this administration are trying to do."
Later Thursday morning, Coats said in a statement that speculation either he or his principal deputy Sue Gordon wrote the op-ed is "patently false."
"From the beginning of our tenure, we have insisted that the entire (intelligence community) remain focused on our mission to provide the President and policymakers with the best intelligence possible," Coats said.
In a rare move Wednesday, the Times chose to publish the piece anonymously, saying that disclosing the name of the official would jeopardize the official's job and it is the only way to deliver an important perspective to its readers.
The essay prompted a hunt in the White House, with the President intent on knowing who wrote the words he suggested could be treasonous, one administration official told CNN.
Aides are following leads based on the way the op-ed is written, looking at key words used in the editorial that stand out, according to a source close to the White House.
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