The White House and President Donald Trump responded to a scathing anonymous op-ed written by a senior Trump administration official in The New York Times on Wednesday by calling the individual who wrote the article a “coward” who needs to “resign.”
“We are disappointed, but not surprised, that the paper chose to publish this pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. “This is a new low for the so-called ‘paper of record,’ and it should issue an apology, just as it did after the election for its disastrous coverage of the Trump campaign. This is just another example of the liberal media’s concerted effort to discredit the President.”
“The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly-elected President of the United States,” Sanders continued. “He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people. This coward should do the right thing and resign.”
President Trump first responded through Twitter, writing: “TREASON?”
Trump then responded to the anonymous op-ed while at a White House event by calling it a “gutless editorial.”
“We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times talking about he’s part of the resistance within the Trump administration,” Trump said. “This is what we have to deal with.”
“So when you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who’s failing, and who’s probably here for all the wrong reasons,” Trump continued. “So if the failing New York Times has an anonymous editorial, can you believe it, anonymous, meaning gutless, a gutless editorial.”
Trump later responded by saying that The New York Times should give his administration the name of the official for national security reasons:
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