All the president's men and women deny writing 'New York Times' resistance op-ed

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Curious Americans of various political ideologies have rallied behind a common goal in Donald Trump’s America: discovering the identity of the anonymous author behind a bombshell op-ed.

The New York Times piece, titled “I am part of the Resistance inside the Trump administration,” detailed a senior official’s attempts to thwart the president’s agenda “and his worst inclinations”, with the help of various associates in the West Wing.

Oddly enough, it would appear as though nobody in Mr Trump’s administration was responsible for the article, as scores of federal officials have released statements decrying the publication.

As reporters and internet sleuths placed bets and posted guesses as to who wrote the op-ed online, cabinet officials and the heads of federal agencies were denying any involvement in the story or its elements.

Mike Pence slammed the op-ed as “gutless” in a statement through his deputy chief of staff and communications director, Jarrod Agen, who said: ”The vice president puts his name on his op-eds.”

At a news conference in India, secretary of state Mike Pompeo also denied having any involvement, while attacking the New York Times as a “liberal newspaper”.

“They should not well have chosen to take a disgruntled deceptive bad actor’s word for anything and put it in their newspaper,” he continued. “It’s not mine.”

By Thursday afternoon, denials had poured in from Ben Carson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of Homeland Security — and just about everyone in between.

Even White House lawyer Don McGahn, who has announced that he will soon leave the administration, shouted at reporters that he had not written the anonymous op-ed.

Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence and a top choice among those guessing who may have written the piece, described the op-ed as “patently false”.

Mick Mulvaney, Nikki Haley, Alex Acosta, Sonny Perdue, Gina Haspel, James Mattis, Steven Mnuchin, Jeff Sessions were all included in the denials arriving by Thursday afternoon.

Of course, any number of these officials could be simply denying involvement in the piece, when in fact they may have anonymously authored it, or at least engaged in some of the activities detailed in the article.

“Many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office,” the senior official wrote. “The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.”

The piece was met with a high level of alarm from former White House officials, including John Kerry, who said the op-ed “scared the hell out of me” in an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

“You know what it really means, Steven, is that we don’t really have a president,” he continued. “I mean you’ve got somebody stealing something off of the president’s desk in order to prevent him from making a decision.”

As Americans continued guessing who was responsible for the story, CNN reported administration officials were printing out statements of denial and having them hand-delivered to the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, the inside look at Mr Trump’s presidency arrived a week before Bob Woodward’s book is expected to hit shelves, revealing alleged chaos and disorder throughout the White House since his 2016 election.