A top adviser for Donald Trump was recently reported to be seeking the identity of the anonymous author of the best-selling book, A Warning , which chronicled the alleged chaos of the president’s administration. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday as he prepared to board Air Force One, Trump claimed to know the identity of the government official, who also criticized his administration in an op-ed for The New York Times in 2018, Breitbart reports.
“It’s not so much a search… I know who it is,” Trump said.
When pressed on the name of the individual, Trump remained tight-lipped.
“Can’t tell you that. But I know who it is. We won’t get into it, people know it’s a fraud.”
Some reports have speculated the individual is Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates, although she has denied such claims. Conversely, former FBI agent Josh Campbell claims that the author is the former secretary of homeland security Kirstjen Nielsen .
Per Mediaite , Campbell said on Twitter that his years of training led him to the conclusion that Nielsen was the author of the New York Times piece, pointing to comparisons in her resignation letter.
“As a trained investigator, I’m just going to go on record now saying that anonymous NYT op-ed was LOADED with commas and em dashes. And so is this resignation letter.”
Although Campbell admitted he could be wrong, he said that the “style and cadence” of each piece supports his conclusion.
“I know who it is.”
Trump says he knows the identity of the anonymous author of “A Warning,” a book about the inner workings of the White House pic.twitter.com/ISawf5PvwF
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) February 18, 2020
According to Raw Story , White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said on Tuesday that the anonymous author is an enemy of the “American people” who could face retaliation for their actions.
“And whoever wrote the anonymous book and the op-ed, they do need to be found,” Grisham said in an interview on Fox News.
“And the fact that they are working in government against the president and essentially against the American people is not good.”
When host Steve Doocy asked Grisham if Coates could be reassigned due to rumors that she is the anonymous author, Grisham said she was unsure.
Trump reportedly views the anonymous author as an enemy who reflects a Washington, D.C. movement against his presidency. He has allegedly asked senior aides in private about efforts to reveal the identity of the author. On another occasion, Trump allegedly asked whether the anonymous author was indeed a government insider or someone trying to gain attention.
Regardless, the anonymous author claims they will deny writing A Warning if pressed, and it’s still unclear if they are still an employee in the Trump administration.