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On NBC’s Thursday morning broadcast of the “Today” show, former CIA director John Brennan repeatedly praised the unknown author of the New York Times’s recent anti-Trump op-ed as a supreme example of “courageous” American patriotism. While admitting that the anonymous writer was committing “active insubordination” with the piece, Brennan justified his or her actions by claiming that because Trump is too “unfit” to be President, the writer is admirably trying to “prevent disasters” in the future. “I think there are two major takeaways,” Brennan told “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie in relation to the op-ed. “One is, what the author...

<p>White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called for the resignation of an anonymous official who wrote an op-ed in the New York Times disparaging President Donald Trump.</p> <p>To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.</p>

One thing that sticks out to me reading the anonymous editorial in the New York Times is that it doesn't sound like a government official wrote it. The big "tell" is the use of the term "senior officials" in one form or similar at three points in the body of the editorial. Do regular people write like that? Not really but you know who does? Reporters. Think about it. How often do you see reporters using the term "senior officials" when writing on background? It is fairly frequent. In contrast how often do high level officials in the government refer...

On a week when Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation or Bob Woodward's book were seen ahead of time as the two big stories that would consume media coverage, along came an anonymous source, a senior administration official, to the New York Times with a scathing op-ed on President Trump that has Washington and the press (again) aflutter with talk of this being THE moment that changes everything. Let's first unpack who, at least in general terms, the source of the column is ... a column that includes describing the president’s leadership style as "impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective," among other...

[Original thought from Joe Herring] The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed, purportedly penned by a "senior White House official" in the Trump administration. Read the missive, and note that there are several clear "tells" in the piece – clues that indicate the motivations and leanings of the author, whoever the coward is. And I will use that word, as someone with the character and fortitude claimed by the author would never write an anonymous piece, nor would he remain employed within an administration he so clearly despises. The Times has called the author "he," so I will assume...

This is not “heroic”, it is a disgrace. The left wing media became totally unhinged yesterday after the publication by the New York Times of an op-ed supposedly penned by a high ranking Trump Administration official… President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader. It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

Sen. Ron Wyden said Thursday that it appears Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh lied to Congress in 2006 when he testified about when he learned of a post-9/11 surveillance program. The Oregon Democrat said in an emailed statement to the Washington Examiner that documents published by the New York Times appear to contradict Kavanaugh’s testimony. “Yes, the documents made public this week strongly suggest Brett Kavanaugh was involved in discussions about the Bush administration’s illegal warrantless wiretapping programs, and that he misled the American people in his 2006 testimony,” Wyden said.

Kavanaugh Will Kill the Constitution The legitimacy of the Supreme Court is on the line. By Paul Krugman Opinion Columnist Sept. 6, 2018 At a fundamental level, the attempt to jam Brett Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court closely resembles the way Republicans passed a tax cut last year. Once again we see a rushed, nakedly partisan process, with G.O.P. leaders withholding much of the information that’s supposed to go into congressional deliberations. Once again the outcome is all too likely to rest on pure tribalism: Unless some Republicans develop a very late case of conscience, they will vote along party...

As a White House lawyer in the Bush administration, Judge Brett Kavanaugh challenged the accuracy of deeming the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to be “settled law of the land,” according to a secret email obtained by The New York Times....deemed “committee confidential,” meaning it could not be made public or discussed by Democrats in questioning him...

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, seizing on an explosive op-ed from an anonymous administration official, said Thursday that it's time to use constitutional powers to remove President Donald Trump office if top officials don't think he can do the job. "If senior administration officials think the President of the United States is not able to do his job, then they should invoke the 25th Amendment," Warren told CNN. "The Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the Vice President and senior officials think the President can't do his job. It does not provide that senior officials go around the President -- take...

A Hillary Clinton presidency would have been even more disruptive that the current Donald Trump administration, historian and prolific author Niall Ferguson told CNBC on Thursday. "There would have been an almost immediate impeachment process," Ferguson said in an interview with CNBC's Steve Sedgwick at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy on Thursday. "More importantly, Trump supporters would have bought the story that the election had been rigged and you would have had Trump supporters with their pitchforks, or more likely semi-automatics, in a very ugly mood," he added. An anonymous op-ed published by The New York Times on Wednesday painted...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on Thursday called President Trump’s furious reaction to an anonymous administration official's op-ed disparaging him in The New York Times a “manifestation of his instability.” Pelosi said her “first thought” was that Vice President Pence penned the opinion piece, which described efforts among staffers in the Trump administration to push back against the president's instincts. Not long after the op-ed was published Wednesday afternoon, Trump tweeted “Treason?” in all caps. He later demanded the Times identify the piece's author "for National Security purposes." “The president saying it’s treason is, again, a manifestation of his...

President Trump should probably call off the hunt for the “senior official in the…..administration " who the New York Times is claiming wrote a damning op-ed for the newspaper. Apparently the “senior official” claims to be part of a group of White House staff trying to thwart the president’s agenda from within. He also claims they seriously considered trying to depose the president using the 25th amendment of the Constitution. Serious stuff. But President Trump should relax and remember it is the New York Times after all. The paper has a scandalous history of lying about the seniority of officials...

Former Secretary of State John Kerry responded Wednesday night to the explosive New York Times op-ed alleging a “quiet resistance” inside the Trump administration actively working to thwart the president’s agenda. “It scares the hell out of me,” Mr. Kerry told comedian Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show.” “First of all, there is a reassurance,” he added. “It means that for James Buchanan, he’s no longer the worst president.” A senior Trump administration official who was granted anonymity by The Times penned an op-ed Wednesday claiming to be part of a group of individuals “working diligently from within” to sabotage...

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Michael R. Caputo says he knows who it is. The strategist and WBEN contributor says a woman wrote the scathing Op-Ed piece in the New York Times that has set Washington ablaze. "I know who she is. It's a woman and I'm kind of cautious. My attorney is trying to keep me from saying her name" said Caputo. He thinks it's an administrative coup. "Whenever this person decided to write this Op-Ed, they should have stood up with the courage of their convictions and quit, but unfortunately we have a coward in the administration's senior ranks"...

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh questioned in 2003 if Roe v. Wade was "settled" law during his time in the White House counsel, according to emails given to the New York Times. Kavanaugh, in an email obtained by the newspaper, proposed deleting a line out of the draft of an opinion piece that said “it is widely accepted by legal scholars across the board that Roe v. Wade and its progeny are the settled law of the land." Kavanaugh, according to the email, questioned if legal scholars did agree that Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that established the...

Collusion? You want to see some collusion? Check out CNN’s Alisyn Camerota this morning. She expressed reluctance in outing the anonymous author of yesterday’s New York Times op-ed. Camerota gave two reasons for her reluctance: [snip] 2. “I also am uncomfortable going too far in trying to out this person who wasn’t, clearly, ready to be outed, because this person argues that they are doing important work inside the White House or inside the administration and therefore doesn’t want to be outed right now.” Let’s break this down. [snip] As to not wanting to out anonymous because “this person argues...

Wednesday on the radio, Dan Bongino subbed for LevinTV host Mark Levin and discussed a New York Times op-ed by an anonymous author. The article is purportedly by a “senior official” in the Trump administration who has “vowed to thwart” parts of Trump’s agenda. Bongino called out the unnamed author as a “coward” and a “chump” for resisting Trump, which really means resisting the American voters who put Trump in office. “When you object to the peaceful transition of power, the republic is finished,” Bongino said. “What else is left? Bongino said that the author has a duty to resign...

Fox News host Tucker Carlson started his show Wednesday night claiming he had a “pretty good idea who wrote” the controversial anonymous New York Times op-ed and added that representatives from his show had called the White House for comment. Earlier in the day, The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed that was allegedly written by a “senior official in the Trump administration.” “We think we’ve got a pretty good idea who wrote this piece. We’ve called the White House for comment on it tonight. But until we confirm the identity, of course, we’re not going to accuse anybody...

The New York Times’ scathing anti-Donald Trump op-ed, which the paper attributed to “a senior official in the Trump administration,” has inspired a parlor game among people trying to figure out the author’s name. Some online commentators are leaning toward Vice President Mike Pence based on just one word in the piece. The unidentified author singles out the late Arizona Sen. John McCain as “a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue.” The word ― which Merriam-Webster defines as either “a star that leads or guides” or a person who “serves as an inspiration, model, or...