*By Carlo Versano* It's the guessing game upending Washington: who is the "senior official" who authored the [unsigned op-ed] (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html) published Wednesday in The New York Times and claims to be "part of the resistance inside the Trump administration"? Whoever it was should come out of the shadows and resign, Marc Lotter, former press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence, said Thursday in an interview on Cheddar. Lotter, who also served as a special assistant to Trump during the president's first months in office, said that he questioned what "senior official" even means. "There's so many issues of credibility with this," he said. "I don't take too much from it." The essay caused shock waves in political and journalistic circles when it hit the Times' website. By Wednesday evening, social media was ablaze with theories about who was behind such a jarring public critique of a sitting president ー who also happens to be the writer's boss. In the piece, the author said there is a cohort of senior advisers in the West Wing and the Cabinet who have actively worked to circumvent the president's "misguided impulses." Trump, as a leader, is "impetuous, adversarial, petty, and ineffective." "If you're going to have these kinds of disagreements then you should not be in that position," Lotter said. According to the former adviser, Trump's unorthodox management style makes many uncomfortable. But as Lotter explained, "He wants to hear both sides of each story," which sometimes causes friction among the ranks. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement in response to the op-ed, saying: "This coward should do the right thing and resign.” The essay was published days after excerpts from renowned journalist Bob Woodward's new tell-all book about Trump began to circulate. That book also chronicles a chaotic West Wing, full of advisers who have tried to thwart the president without his knowledge. Trump reacted angrily verbally and on Twitter late Wednesday. He called the essay ["gutless"(]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1037485664433070080), wondered aloud whether the Times should unveil the source for ["National Security purposes"](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1037485664433070080), and tweeted, simply, ["TREASON?"] (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1037464177269514240) For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/marc-lotter-shares-his-remarks-on-ny-times-op-ed).

Share:
More In Politics
How Long Can Markets Shrug Off Trade War?
Stocks were mixed Tuesday, a day after tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports went into effect. Art Hogan, chief market strategist for B. Riley FBR, said investors have been taking the escalating trade war in stride, but whether that can last under these new tariffs will be the question to watch in the weeks ahead.
Trump Swaps Out North Korea for Iran at UN
A year after delivering his "fire and fury" speech that threatened to annihilate North Korea and its "little rocket man" leader, President Trump addressed the annual United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, expanding on his "America First" motto and replacing North Korea with Iran as the major antagonist.
Kimbal Musk: Tariffs Hurting Our Farmers
The newest round of tariffs on China imposed by the Trump administration will be damaging for American farmers, particularly soybean and corn growers, said Kimbal Musk, the restaurateur (and brother of Elon) who founded the Kitchen Restaurant Group. Because farmers can only "innovate once a year" during harvest, what they need most is certainty.
Markets Drop as Trade Tensions, Political 'Mayhem' Weigh on Investors
U.S. markets dropped Monday as questions over the future of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein added to investor concerns, which were already heightened by the onset of the latest round of tariffs on Chinese goods. "The political environment seems to be mayhem on a daily basis, and we're just going to have to get used to that," said Jason Moser, analyst at The Motley Fool, in an interview on Cheddar Monday.
The Trump Bump: Political Book Sales Surging on Both Sides of Aisle
From Omarosa to Bob Woodward to Jeanine Pirro, authors are cashing in on the Trump presidency. Brent Lang, a film and media editor for Variety, said that sales of books on the Trump presidency ー regardless of political leanings ー are surging as readers want to make sense of this era.
Load More