The White House is looking for anonymous internal critics

The author was only identified as a senior administration official. A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment when asked for a description of this term.

"These are the things we have to deal with and, you know, the dishonest media," Trump told reporters at the White House about the column. The president was ready to answer the question, pulling a sheet of paper from his jacket pocket and answering with a list of what he said were the achievements of his administration, including the low unemployment rate.

Later in the day, Mr. Trump tweeted a video of his response to the editorial and followed up with a second tweet that read simply: "TREASON?" Followed by a tweet stating :, the Times must, for reasons of national security, send it back immediately to the government!

Inside the West Wing, senior officials canceled afternoon meetings and huddled behind closed doors to develop strategies on how to expose the company. Author, said White House officials. Some officials have called on reporters to chase rumors about the identity of those behind the editions, and whether it came from the White House or from a government agency.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said in a statement that the newspaper was written by an anonymous and anonymous source. She and Mr. Trump have called the Times a failure, despite statistics since his election.

"The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected president of the United States," Ms. Sanders said. "He does not put the country above all else, but puts himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people. This coward should do what is right and resign.

Since its inception, the Trump administration has included senior officials – both conservative and liberal – who have sought to rein in Trump's direction, according to familiar people.

Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist of the president and a self-declared economic populist, has ordered young employees to ignore the president's direct orders, said the people. In terms of trade policy, Gary Cohn, his former economic and democratic adviser, has often slowed the president's attempts to implement his protectionist instincts, said the people.

The anonymous author hunt took place on a day when the White House was busy answering the author of the latest critical book on Trump's presidency.

Cover of the new manuscript of Bob Woodward, editor of the Washington Post and author of a dozen best-selling books, was closely watched by the president.

Earlier Wednesday, at the White House, journalists asked Trump for a trade deal he planned to sign with South Korea later this month. The Chair responded by referring to a passage in Mr. Woodward's book that Mr. Cohn allegedly withdrew Oval Office papers that would have excluded the United States from the free trade agreement with Korea before that Mr. Trump can sign them. false."

"I read another trick in the book on the trade deal, that some people did not want me to look," he said. "It was another thing in the book that was just totally wrong."

Trump also referred journalists on Wednesday to a pair of statements released Tuesday by Chief of Staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who disputed the derogatory quotations from the book they privately said about the president. . Trump's former lawyer, John Dowd, also disavowed the statements attributed to him in the book.

Mr. Mattis, who was quoted in the book as saying that the president's understanding of world affairs was that of a "fifth- or sixth-class student," described this passage as "a product of the rich imagination of someone." 39; a ".

"The scornful words about the president that were attributed to me in Woodward's book have never been spoken by me," he said in the statement.

Trump proposed on Wednesday different accounts of how these statements were published.

Around 2 pm, he told reporters that he had been surprised by the statements of MM. Kelly and Mattis, claiming that they had been released "without me even knowing it".

Two hours later, he told the press that he had approached General Mattis about the book and that his defense secretary had asked him to issue a statement contesting the book's descriptions. "And I said," Thank you very much, it's very nice, "said Mr. Trump to reporters.

Mr. Woodward's book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," is scheduled for release on September 11th.

-Vivian Salama contributed to this article.

Write to Michael C. Bender at [email protected]