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Shortly after President Trump heard of a senior anonymous official criticizing his administration, the president fought back against the New York Times and other "bogus media".
USA TODAY & # 39; HUI

The first lady, Melania Trump, participated in the White House war against her anonymous detractors, condemning An anonymous author of a New York Times criticized the ability of President Donald Trump to occupy the position of "cowardly" in a statement to CNN.

"Unidentified sources have become the majority of voices that people hear about in the news today," said Trump's statement. "Unnamed people write the history of our nation."

The first lady has not been known to regularly weigh on the Trump administration's media coverage, certainly not in an open and noisy way since taking office.

But her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said she had released her first statement Thursday after CNN asked her if she had responded to the article published Wednesday night, in which an anonymous "senior official" described himself as "part". of resistance inside the Trump administration. "

"We were asked the question and she found it important to answer," Grisham told USA TODAY.

Trump's statement was opened with a genuflexion to freedom of expression and a free press, before moving on to a more reprimanding tone.

"The press must be fair, impartial and responsible," she reprimanded. "Words are important, and the charges can have serious consequences: If a person is bold enough to accuse people of negative actions, they have a responsibility to publicly defend their words and people have the right to defend themselves.

"For the author of the editorialist – you do not protect this country, you sabotage it with your cowardly actions."

The statement was strong for Melania Trump, who is usually a discreet FLOTUS who rarely tweets at anyone compared to her husband.

Meanwhile, the president and his staff are furious about the editorial, in the wake of a new book so critical of the dysfunctional oval office of the famous Watergate journalist, Bob Woodward.

In one Thursday tweetThe president described the writer as "devoid of everything," suggested that the author did not exist and the Times invented the text, demanding that the Times return the author for reasons of "national security." A day earlier, he posted a tweet of a word that simply asked, "Treason?"

On the other hand, the declaration of the first lady was much less incendiary, but she nevertheless understood well. Although Melania Trump is watching CNN despite her husband's hostility towards the network, she is also known to agree with him for describing the press coverage of the administration as being generally unfair.

But this last measure against her against speculation, or wishful thinking, among Trump's detractors who think she could be herself a critic of her husband who chose to express her dissent so subtle. For example, his first major solo international tour will take place in October in Africa, where some of the countries he would have described in a crude manner at a January meeting on immigration.

Meanwhile, the search for the identity of the anonymous critic inside the White House has already begun, including the textual analysis of the essay for revealing signs of potential writers.

News agencies such as USA TODAY and CNN have already published lists of people likely to be the author.

Until now, Vice President Mike Pence and several cabinet members and other senior officials have denied being the person behind the test. Among them, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Director Kirstjen Nielsen.

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