Searing Trump op-ed sets off wild guessing game on author

An opinion piece in The New York Times by an anonymous senior administration official claiming to be part of a "resistance" working "from within" to thwart President Donald Trump's "worst inclinations" set off a wild guessing game inside and outside the White House on the author's identity.

Swift denials of involvement in the op-ed came Thursday from top administration officials, including the office of Vice President Mike Pence, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Trump himself was furious, tweeting Thursday morning that "The Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the Fake News Media, are going Crazy - & they don't know what to do."
On Wednesday night, Trump tweeted a demand that if "the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!"
In a "House of Cards"-style plot twist in an already over-the-top administration, Trump allies and political insiders scrambled to unmask the writer. The author, claiming to be part of the "resistance" to Trump "working diligently from within" his administration, said, "Many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office."
The text of the op-ed was pulled apart for clues: The writer is identified as an "administration official"; does that mean a person who works outside the White House? The references to Russia and the late Sen John McCain do they suggest someone working in national security? Does the writing style sound like someone who worked at a think tank? In a tweet, the Times used the pronoun "he" to refer to the writer; does that rule out all women? The newspaper later said the tweet referring to "he" had been "drafted by someone who is not aware of the author's identity, including the gender, so the use of 'he' was an error."
In a rare step, Pence's communications director Jarrod Agen tweeted early Thursday that "The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds. The @nytimes should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed. Our office is above such amateur acts." Pompeo, who was in India, denied writing the anonymous opinion piece, saying, "It's not mine." He accused the media of trying to undermine the Trump administration and said he found that "incredibly disturbing."