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Anonymous Trump Official Behind Times Op-Ed Is Writing a Book Anonymous Trump Official Behind Times Op-Ed Is Writing a Book
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An anonymous Trump administration official who published a September 2018 essay in The New York Times, about the active resistance to the president’s agenda and behavior from within his own administration, will publish a book next month.An anonymous Trump administration official who published a September 2018 essay in The New York Times, about the active resistance to the president’s agenda and behavior from within his own administration, will publish a book next month.
The author, who has not been publicly identified, created an uproar when he or she wrote in an Op-Ed last year that many of President Trump’s senior officials “are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” adding, “I would know. I am one of them.”The author, who has not been publicly identified, created an uproar when he or she wrote in an Op-Ed last year that many of President Trump’s senior officials “are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” adding, “I would know. I am one of them.”
The book, titled, “A Warning,” will be published on Nov. 19 by Twelve, a division of the Hachette Book Group. The author is represented by Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn of Javelin, the literary agency that represents the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, Senator Martha McSally and the retired United States Navy commander Guy Snodgrass. The book, titled, “A Warning,” will be published on Nov. 19 by Twelve, a division of the Hachette Book Group. The author, who will remain unnamed in the book, is represented by Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn of Javelin, the literary agency that represents the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, Senator Martha McSally and the retired United States Navy commander Guy Snodgrass.
Mr. Latimer, a cofounder of Javelin, told CNN that the author planned to donate most of the proceeds and was not motivated by money to tell the story. In a news release, the publisher described the book as “a shocking, first-hand account of President Trump and his record” that picks up where the Op-Ed left off. Mr. Latimer, a co-founder of Javelin, told CNN that the author planned to donate most of the proceeds and was not motivated by money to tell the story.
“The Author of A WARNING refused the chance at a seven figure advance and intends to donate a substantial amount of any royalties to the White House Correspondents Association and other organizations that fight for a free press that seeks the truth,” Mr. Latimer said, adding that the book “was not written by the author lightly, or for the purpose of financial enrichment. It has been written as an act of conscience and of duty.” “The Author of A WARNING refused the chance at a seven figure advance and intends to donate a substantial amount of any royalties to the White House Correspondents Association and other organizations that fight for a free press that seeks the truth,” Mr. Latimer said. The book “was not written by the author lightly, or for the purpose of financial enrichment,” he added. “It has been written as an act of conscience and of duty.”
In a press release, the publisher described the book as an “explosive” account that will pick up where the op-ed left off. In a withering statement, Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, said: “It takes a lot of conviction and bravery to write a whole book anonymously.”
The news of the deal was reported earlier by the Washington Post. [Our Op-Ed editor, James Dao, answered readers’ questions on The Times’s decision to publish the anonymous Op-Ed last year.]
The announcement comes at a precarious time for the Trump administration, as the president faces an impeachment inquiry, growing scrutiny of his foreign policy decisions regarding Syria and Ukraine, and criticism about his recent decision, which was quickly abandoned, to host the Group of 7 meeting next June at the Trump National Doral resort near Miami. News of the deal was reported earlier by The Washington Post.
It’s also the latest and potentially most revealing and explosive tell-all book about the Trump administration, following headling-grabbing books by a parade of former officials, including Mr. Comey, the former deputy F.B.I. director Andrew G. McCabe, former Trump Aide Cliff Sims, and former reality TV star and White House official Omarosa Manigault Newman. The announcement comes at a precarious time for Mr. Trump, who faces an impeachment inquiry, scrutiny of his foreign policy decisions regarding Syria and Ukraine, and criticism of his now-abandoned decision to host next year’s Group of 7 meeting at the Trump National Doral resort near Miami.
In the essay, the author described a systematic effort within the administration to “preserve our democratic institutions” by defying some of Mr. Trump’s directives. “There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first,” the author wrote. “A Warning” is also likely to become the latest explosive tell-all about the Trump administration, following headline-grabbing books by former government officials such as Mr. Comey, the former deputy F.B.I. director Andrew G. McCabe, the former Trump aide Cliff Sims, and the former reality TV star and White House official Omarosa Manigault Newman.
The op-ed sparked criticism both from liberals and Democrats who felt the administration official should resign and come forward publicly, and from supporters of Mr. Trump who denounced the official as a deep state operative who was undermining the president’s agenda. Mr. Trump himself argued that the official was guilty of “treason” and posed a national security risk, and suggested that his then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions should use law enforcement to investigate the official. In the 2018 Op-Ed, the author described a systematic effort within the administration to “preserve our democratic institutions” by defying some of Mr. Trump’s directives. “There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first,” the author wrote.
The unnamed official, whose identity is known to the Times editorial page department but not to the news department or the reporters who cover the White House, has managed to remain anonymous for more than a year in spite of frenzied efforts to uncover the person’s identity, and has remained firm despite The essay sparked criticism from both liberals and Democrats who felt the administration official should resign and come forward publicly, and from Trump supporters who denounced the official as a “deep state” operative undermining the president’s agenda. Mr. Trump himself argued that the official was guilty of “treason” and posed a national security risk, and he suggested that his then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions should use law enforcement to investigate the official.
It’s unclear whether the person remains in the administration currently, given the high turnover in Mr. Trump’s cabinet, and how much additional and specific detail the book will go into regarding the president’s behavior and misgivings that members of his own administration might have. The unnamed official, whose identity is known to the Times editorial page department but not to the news department or the reporters who cover the White House, has managed to remain anonymous for more than a year in spite of frenzied efforts to uncover the person’s identity.
On Twitter, much of the discussion after the news was published Tuesday revolved around guesses about the author’s identity and decision to remain anonymous. “At a time when State Department employees are risking their careers to testify about wrongdoing in this administration, I can’t think of anyone I want to hear from less than this person,” tweeted Matthew Miller, a former director of the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs in the Obama administration.
It’s unclear whether the official remains in the administration, given the high turnover in Mr. Trump’s cabinet, and how much additional and specific detail the book will offer regarding the president’s behavior and misgivings that members of his own administration might have.
Keeping the author’s identity under wraps may prove tricky with the release of a book-length work — Amazon lists “A Warning” as a 272-page book — which offers a greater opportunity for clues to his or her identity as well as increasingly sophisticated forensic author identification software, which matches prose style to other published works. Such software has been used to solve literary mysteries and unmask authors writing under pseudonyms, including J.K. Rowling, who published mystery novels as Robert Galbraith.
There’s a long American tradition of anonymously published political writing, including “Common Sense,” which Thomas Paine originally released anonymously in the 1770s at the beginning of the American Revolution, and the Federalist Papers, which were published under a collective pen name. But previous attempts at writing anonymous political books have fallen apart quickly: Just a few months after the publication of “Primary Colors,” a thinly veiled 1996 novel about Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, the journalist Joe Klein was outed as its author.
Annie Karni contributed reporting.