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President Donald Trump speaks at a fundraiser in Fargo, ND on September 7, 2018. Trump makes his second visit to the largest city in North Dakota in ten weeks to campaign for the candidate's Senate Kevin Cramer. finances. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)
WASHINGTON – The latest news about President Donald Trump and an anonymous editorial in the New York Times (all local times):
9:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he can identify up to five people who could have written the New York Times anonymous opinion piece criticizing his leadership.
But he refused to name the names when asked in an interview Friday with the North Dakota television channel, KVLY. Trump was in Fargo to campaign for GOP Senate candidate Kevin Cramer.
Asked to share the opinion of the senior administration official who, according to the Times, wrote the text, Trump said, "I could think of four or five people, mostly people I do not like or that I do not respect.
He says that the identity of the person will eventually become public.
Trump also claims that the problem "is echoing in the opposite direction". According to him, people think that the "Times" publishes such an article.
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2:45 p.m.
White House official said President Donald Trump's comment that the Justice Department is investigating the anonymous author of a New York Times critical article was not an order to federal prosecutors .
The official is not allowed to discuss the issue publicly and speaks on condition of anonymity.
Trump's call is the last test of the independence of the department. The department is supposed to make investigative and indictment decisions without political interference from the White House.
Trump told reporters that Attorney General Jeff Sessions "should investigate the author of this play because I really believe it's national security."
There is no apparent evidence of a crime committed by the author.
– Associate Press Writer Zeke Miller.
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12:25
President Donald Trump said that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should investigate the identity of the author of an unnamed article in the New York Times.
Trump said in an interview Friday with journalists on board Air Force One that he believes that the critical opinion piece of his leadership is a matter of "national security".
Asked if he would take action against the Times, Trump said, "We'll see, I'm looking at this now."
Mr. Trump adds, "We'll see what he got, what he gave, what he's talking about and where he's at right now.
Trump says that if the person had a high-level security clearance, "I do not want it in these meetings."
Trump reiterated that it was a "shame" that the Times publishes the article.
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1:30 p.m.
One after another, the main lieutenants of President Donald Trump have come forward to say, "Not me."
They lined up to deny the writing of a New York Times inflammatory article allegedly submitted by a member of a "resistance" movement of the administration aimed at counteracting Trump's most dangerous impulses.
By e-mail, tweet and in camera, the denials of Cabinet officials – and even Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday – were apparently designed for an audience, sitting in the Oval Office.
Senior officials in the main sectors of national security and economic policy accused the writer of cowardice, disloyalty and acting against American interests in harsh terms that mimicked the president's words.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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