Pence, Pompeo say they did not author ‘resistance’ NYT op-ed

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied authoring a New York Times opinion article that claimed there is a “resistance” inside the administration seeking to thwart parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

“I come from a place where if you’re not in a position to execute the commander’s intent, you have a singular option. It is to leave,” Pompeo told newsmen while on a visit to New Delhi on Thursday.

“The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds,” tweeted Jarrod Agen, the director of communications for Pence.

“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.”

The article published on Wednesday ignited a guessing game in Washington over who could have penned it.

The New York Times said it granted the request for anonymity by a person described only as “a senior official” because it offered “an important perspective.”

Trump blasted the piece as “gutless” and a “disgrace.”

The author wrote that Trump’s “amorality” and behaviour including “repetitive rants” and making “half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless” decisions had resulted in a “two-track presidency.”

“The dilemma — which he [Trump] does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” the official said.

The column said the internal opposition to Trump was not the “popular ‘resistance’ of the left.”

“This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state,” the official said.

(dpa/NAN)