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FARGO, ND (AP) – President Donald Trump said Friday that the Department of Justice should identify the author of a critical article in the New York Times, presented by a member of a New York Times movement. "resistance" from the administration striving to thwart his most dangerous impulses.
Trump cited "national security" in an interview given to journalists on board Air Force One while he called Attorney General Jeff Sessions to open an investigation to unmask the author. He also said that he was studying the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the newspaper following the publication of the test two days earlier.
"Jeff should investigate the author of this play because I really believe it's national security," Trump said. If the person has a high-level security clearance, he said, "I do not want him at these meetings."
"We are confident that the Department of Justice understands that the First Amendment protects all US citizens and that it would not participate in such blatant abuse of governmental power," the New York Times said. m said in a statement Friday afternoon in response to Trump's comments.
It is unthinkable that the Department of Justice could open an inquiry into this article. Although he strongly criticized Trump, no classified information appears to have been revealed by the author or disclosed to the newspaper, which would be a crucial obstacle before a leak investigation could even be considered.
The appeal of Still Trump is the latest test of the independence of the Department of Justice, which is supposed to make decisions on the investigation and indictment without political interference from the White House.
A day earlier, Trump's senior lieutenants came forward to repudiate the opus in a show of loyalty to their angry boss, who ordered helpers to unmask the writer.
By e-mail, tweet and in camera, the denials of Cabinet officials – and even Vice President Mike Pence – apparently took place Thursday, apparently on behalf of an audience, sitting in the Oval Office.
Senior officials of national security and economic policy accused the author of the article of cowardice, disloyalty and acting against the interests of the United States in harsh terms that mimicked the own words of the president.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trump said the author "may not be a Republican, it may not be a conservative, but maybe a person." state for a long time ".
However, there is a long list of officials who would likely have been the author. Many have privately shared some of the concerns of the article about Trump with colleagues, friends and journalists.
With such a circle of potential suspicion, Trump's men and women felt that they had no choice but to express themselves. The denials and condemnations came from afar: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis were denied the author during a visit to India; Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke came from American Samoa.
In Washington, statements by Vice President Pence, Secretary of State for Energy Rick Perry, Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman of Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence and Chief of other members of the cabinet, echoed the claims.
The author professed to be a member of this same inner circle. So, can the denials be made? There was no sure-fire way to know and this only aggravated the frustrations of the president.
White House officials have not responded to requests for drafting Trump's appeal for the author to be turned over to the government or for reasons of national security not supported by his request. Some people who agreed with the author's points suggested that the president's reaction had actually confirmed the author's concerns.
Rudy Giuliani, the president's attorney, suggested that it would be "appropriate" for Trump to request a formal investigation into the identity of the author of the tribune.
"Suppose it is a person with a security clearance.So they feel that this is appropriate, they could perhaps also disclose national security secrets.This person should be discovered and arrested," said Giuliani.
The first attempt to unmask the author turned out to be unsuccessful, the attention turned to issues raised by the article, which were whispered in Washington for more than a year. One year: Is Trump really responsible and a split executive branch?
Former CIA director John Brennan, a stalwart critic of Trump, told NBC: "It is not viable to have an executive body where individuals do not follow the orders of the managing director. is a very dangerous animal, think Donald Trump is injured. "
The anonymous author, claiming to be part of the resistance "working diligently" within "the administration, said:" Many Trump appointees have pledged to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting office impulses. "
"This can be a comfort in this chaotic time, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room," continued the author. "We fully recognize what is happening, and we are trying to do what is right even if Donald Trump will not do it."
First Lady Melania Trump issued a statement of support to her husband. She praised the free press as "important to our democracy" but assailed the author by saying, "You do not protect this country, you sabotage it with your cowardly actions".
In Pennsylvania Avenue, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he was unaware of the role that Congress would have to investigate, although Republican Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, an ally of Trump, said that the legislature could participate.
The writer said Trump's aides were aware of the president's mistakes and that "many senior officials in his own government are working diligently to thwart some parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations." I would know that. am one of them. "
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Miller reported from Washington and Lemire reported from New York. AP authors Catherine Lucey, Mary Clare Jalonick, Eric Tucker and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to the report.
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