Anonymous Trump Critic Identifies Himself

Trump administration official, who wrote an opinion in the New York Times in 2018 criticizing the President, has identified himself.

The opinion had created an outrage in the White House when it was published. An investigation was started to find the anonymous writer.

Miles Taylor is a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security.

“We do not owe the President our silence,” Mr. Taylor said. “We owe him and the American people the truth.”

At the time, Mr. Trump urged the justice department to investigate and also called the anonymous author “gutless”.

In a statement published on Wednesday, Mr. Taylor, now a CNN contributor, said: “Much has been made of the fact that these writings were published anonymously. The decision wasn’t easy, I wrestled with it, and I understand why some people consider it questionable to levy such serious charges against a sitting President under the cover of anonymity.

“But my reasoning was straightforward, and I stand by it. Issuing my critiques without attribution forced the President to answer them directly on their merits or not at all, rather than creating distractions through petty insults and name-calling. I wanted the attention to be on the arguments themselves.”

Responding to Mr. Taylor’s statement, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called him a “low-level, disgruntled former staffer”.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows called the revelation “a monumental embarrassment”, adding: “I’ve seen more exciting reveals in Scooby-Doo episodes.”

And at a rally in Arizona, President Trump said: “This guy is a low-level lowlife that I don’t know.

It should be remembered that Mr. Taylor had said in 2018 that he was involved in a secret ‘resistance’ force that was working to undermine the president.

“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,” he wrote.

The New York Times defended the editorial in a statement at the time, saying: “We are incredibly proud to have published this piece, which adds significant value to the public’s understanding of what is going on in the Trump administration.”