| | | | 12 Trump officials with motive to write that NYT op-ed | | | On Wednesday afternoon, The New York Times posted an anonymous op-ed titled: "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration."
The piece is remarkable. Identified only as a "senior official in the Trump administration," the piece lays out how the author -- as well as other colleagues within the administration -- are waging a semi-open campaign to keep the President from doing too much damage to the nation.
"Many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations," the author writes.
Beyond the way the author is identified, there are very few clues about who it could be. And the description used by the Times -- "a senior official in the Trump administration" -- is broad enough to include virtually anyone in the Trump White House, a Cabinet official, undersecretary or someone on, say, the National Security Council.
Beyond that, the only hint we have comes from this tweet of the op-ed, from The New York Times social team: "In an anonymous Op-Ed, a senior Trump administration official says he and others are working to frustrate the president's 'misguided impulses.'"
Later, a spokeswoman for the Times said that the tweet was a mistake. "The tweet was drafted by someone who is not aware of the author's identity, including the gender, so the use of 'he' was an error," Danielle Rhoades Ha said.
What we know: The guessing game of who wrote the op-ed will dominate official Washington circles for the foreseeable future. And everyone who fits the description of a "senior Trump administration official" will have to answer as to whether it was them.
Another thing we know: Trump is pissed. "TREASON?" he tweeted on Wednesday night.
Read my full analysis for 12 people who might be the author of the op-ed, based on what we know about the various factions, likes, dislikes, motivations and ambitions within the Trump administration -- in no particular order.
-- Chris | | SILICON VALLEY GOES TO WASHINGTON | | Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appeared before Congress on Wednesday to address the actions their companies are taking to prevent foreign influence on American political campaigns during the 2018 elections.
Google, which was also invited, was a no-show.
At the Senate Intelligence Committee panel, which Sandberg and Dorsey attended, Sandberg said Facebook was "too slow to spot this and too slow to act" on Russian efforts to interfere in American elections through its platform.
And at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing later Wednesday, Dorsey addressed claims of anti-conservative bias on Twitter.
Why it matters: Wednesday's congressional appearances with the biggest players in Silicon Valley come after it was revealed that Russia has attempted to interfere in the 2018 election through their platforms. Their appearances in Washington also come as conservatives -- including the President himself -- have accused the search and social sites of anti-conservative bias.
The Alex Jones sideshow: Infowars publisher and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was spotted at Wednesday's hearings on the Hill playing to the cameras.
Jones has a bone to pick with social media companies; his pages were suspended earlier this year on YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms for violating community guidelines. More recently, he received a seven-day suspension from Twitter.
He nearly caught Marco Rubio's hands after he repeatedly interrupted the senator while he was attempting to answer questions from reporters, CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi reports.
He also held court with reporters and yelled at Dorsey on his way out. | | Former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is suing actor Sacha Baron Cohen for $95 million for being duped into being on Baron Cohen's "Who is America" show.
Auctioneer-turned-congressman Billy Long bid away a protester's interruption at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
Some 7,000 insects, arachnids, and lizards appear to have been stolen from the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion.
Vanilla Ice was on a flight quarantined at JFK Airport containing passengers complaining of coughs and fevers over 100 degrees.
Former "Cosby Show" star Geoffrey Owens discusses the "dignity of work" after he says he was shamed for bagging groceries at Trader Joe's. | | | On this day in 1967, the Beatles began recording "I am the Walrus" at Abbey Road Studios. The song has subsequently been covered by Styx, Bono, Oasis, Frank Zappa, the Flaming Lips and -- Jim Carrey. | | 'FEAR' SPARKS A WITCH HUNT | | President Donald Trump is asking loyal aides to help determine who cooperated with Bob Woodward for his new book, "Fear," CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports.
While a hunt is going on within the current administration, the defense from White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and other administration officials has been that the book was fueled by "former disgruntled employees."
Previews of Woodward's book have been largely unflattering toward the President. According to anecdotes in the book, aides have gone so far as to swipe and hide papers from Trump's desk so he wouldn't sign them, the President called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded," and Trump regretted a clean-up effort over his "both sides" remark after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year.
The President has dismissed the book as "fiction" and attacked Woodward's credibility. However, a transcript of a phone call between the President and the author reveals that Trump said he thought Woodward has "always been fair." | | KAVANAUGH HEARINGS CONTINUE | | Wednesday marked day two of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing to become the next Supreme Court justice. Some highlights: - Kavanaugh said he had not made any promises or assurance on how he would rule in various cases, including Roe v. Wade.
- Kavanaugh was grilled by Democrats on matters related to the presidency. He was asked by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy whether Trump has an absolute right to pardon himself as Trump has claimed. The judge would not indulge the hypothetical. He also refused to say if he believes a sitting president could be subpoenaed.
- Much like yesterday's boisterous start to the confirmation hearings, at least 36 people were arrested today for interruptions in the hearing room for Kavanaugh's confirmation proceedings.
| | MEANWHILE IN MASSACHUSETTS ... | | Ayanna Pressley became the latest primary challenger to upset a sitting Democratic member of Congress, defeating Massachusetts Rep. Mike Capuano on Tuesday in the Boston-area district once represented by John F. Kennedy, CNN's Eric Bradner reports.
Why it matters: The race was also not a moderate-vs.-progressive matchup, Bradner points out. Capuano was one of the most progressive members of Congress. However, Pressley's election adds to the growing group of younger liberal Democrats -- often women and people of color -- to win competitive primaries.
Read Chris' analysis of the race here. | | | From Brenna: "The best part of Sen. Jon Kyl's coming back to Congress is not the fact that he's still spelling his name that way. It's that during his ceremonial swearing-in, he raised his right hand before Vice President Pence even told him to. Back away, everyone. This man is a pro." | | | | | | |
Post a Comment