Vice President Mike Pence Denies Writing Anonymous Anti-Trump ‘New York Times’ Op-Ed
Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday denied being the anonymous White House insider who wrote a scathing New York Times editorial about infighting within the Trump administration, Time is reporting.
On Wednesday, as reported by the Inquisitr, the Times took the exceedingly rare step of publishing an anonymous editorial. The writer claims to be a “senior official” within the Trump administration and claims to be a conservative working with other administration officials as a sort of in-house resistance, working to thwart Donald Trump from within.
“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.”
Later on Wednesday, as the Inquisitr reported at the time, internet sleuths began suggesting that the writer of the piece was none other than Vice President Mike Pence. The evidence for this claim comes from the fact that the writer uses the word “lodestar,” an archaic word that refers to a star, such as the North Star, guiding a navigator. Mike Pence has been known to use that word in some of his own writings and speeches.
So is that clear proof that the anonymous writer is Donald Trump’s own vice president?
Oh come on. He is the VP people. Smart calculated and cool as a cucumber. He wouldn’t be that foolish to use a word he always uses. This is a outsider making things up trying to pin something on our admin. Per the usual #FakeNews https://t.co/8cvt4tEe3e
— Kaya Jones (@KayaJones) September 6, 2018
Mike Pence, through his spokesman Jarrod Agen, said in a tweet that he was not responsible for the piece.
“The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds. The @nytimes should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed. Our office is above such amateur acts.”
Time writer Mahita Gajanan also notes that the use of the word “lodestar” could be used as a red herring, both to deflect attention for the real author’s identity, and to cast aspersions on Pence in the process.
Meanwhile, Twitter user Jennifer Wright dug up a 1998 movie review Pence had written, and noted that Pence’s writing style doesn’t match with that of the Times editorial writer.
I have read Mike Pence's Mulan review, so I'm pretty sure he's not capable of writing that NYT piece pic.twitter.com/hhTSv66RzB
— Jennifer Wright (@JenAshleyWright) September 6, 2018
Other White House officials are also denying that they wrote the scathing Times piece. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for example, told reporters in New Delhi “it’s not mine,” and chastised the newspaper for taking “a disgruntled, deceptive, bad actor’s word for anything.”
Also denying being the author, according to CNBC, is Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who has sometimes found himself with the nickname “Lodestar.” A Coats associate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that writing an anonymous op-ed piece isn’t Coats’ “style.”
