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The Trump administration has warned of a potential national security risk related to an opinion piece released last week in which an anonymous government official said he was working from inside to subvert the president.
"We will find out if there has been any criminal activity," Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News on Sunday. "I think the president's concern is that this person can have responsibilities in the area of national security."
Trump's advisor, Kellyanne Conway, echoed Pence about CNN's State of the Union as the author's hunt continued.
"There could be a risk to national security," she warned. "It all depends on what was disclosed by this individual … Anyone who does, you do not know what else he says."
The anonymous editorial was released Wednesday by the New York Times and attributed to a senior administration official. He described a "two-way presidency" in which "many Trump appointees are committed to doing what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while counteracting Mr. Trump's more mistaken impulses until that time." that he is absent ".
Trump called the play "betrayal".
All the cabinet members who were questioned about the play refused paternity.
On Sunday, Pence told CBS's Face the Nation that he was "100% confident that no one in the Vice President's staff was involved in this anonymous editorial." He also told Fox News on Sunday that he was not the author, that he would take a lie detector test on the subject "in the blink of an eye" and that he would "submit to any evaluation." that the administration wanted to do.
But the suggestion that the play represented a risk to national security had not yet been released. Addressing Fox, Pence called the play "misleading" and said "it's really an attack on our democracy."
On Friday, Trump called his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, to conduct an investigation to identify the author. But Conway acknowledged that the article of opinion in itself did not constitute a criminal activity.
"I think this person will make himself known," said Conway. "The cowards are like criminals, they end up telling the wrong person."
There is no evidence or indication beyond the Trump Administration's assertion that the author of the play plays a role in national security. But according to a book that will be released Tuesday by veteran journalist Bob Woodward, a member of the national security team will never have a hard time convincing the president.
The Guardian got a copy of the book, Fear. Woodward reports that Defense Secretary James Mattis did not act on Trump's orders to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"We're not going to do anything about it," Woodward quotes Mattis as saying. "We will be much more measured."
Trump claimed that he would have liked to speak with Woodward for the book but was not asked to do so.
"I have never received a call. I have never received a message, "Trump told Woodward during a recorded phone call between the two, published by The Washington Post this week. Woodward responded that he had requested an interview with the president by "about six people," including Conway.
On Sunday, Conway told NBC's Meet the Press that she had not forwarded Woodward's request for a meeting with Trump.
"I did not bring the request directly to the president," she said.
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