'Anonymous' author: Trump 'danger to the country,' will reveal name before election
The anonymous author took to Reddit on Tuesday night to answer questions.
The author who has claimed to be a senior Trump administration official, who has written both the book “A Warning” and the 2018 New York Times op-ed that claimed there was a “resistance” within the administration, went on Reddit on Tuesday night to answer questions –- anonymously.
“Trump will hear from me, in my own name, before the 2020 election,” the author wrote on the online "discussion website," answering a question about speaking publicly.
The author continued, writing, “As far as anonymity is concerned, I will not keep my identity shrouded in secrecy forever. I am not afraid to use my own name to express concern about the current occupant of the Oval Office.”
Back in 2018, the author wrote in the New York Times that President Donald Trump’s actions could be ameliorated by officials he surrounded himself with. Now, the author said they completely disagrees with that previous judgment, saying “I was dead wrong.”
“No one can thwart his attraction to wrongdoing,” the author wrote, referring to Trump. “Americans cannot and should not rely on a group of unelected bureaucrats to maintain stability.”
A spokesperson for the publisher,Twelve, previously had no comment as to whether the author is still in the administration.
The author took to Reddit less than a week after the House Intelligence Committee finished two weeks of public impeachment hearings and roughly a week before the House Judiciary Committee will holds its first impeachment hearing, where Democrats say the president will have a right to counsel.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump demanded a quid pro quo from Ukraine in order to disrupt the 2020 election,” the author wrote. “Everyone in the White House knows this, including the President himself.”
The author believes Trump’s actions rose to the level of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ and is “proud of all the individuals who have come forward to tell the truth about corrupt behavior in the White House, whether they have chosen to protect their identities as whistleblowers or to testify before Congress.”
As time passes under this administration, the author notes “anyone should be able to see the chaos has worsened as the guardrails have come off.” The author warns that if reelected, Trump may feel emboldened to follow his “dangerous impulses to unknowable and alarming ends.”
“He is hurtling between different controversies and ignoring important matters of state, abusing his power with some regularity, undercutting vital democratic institutions daily, and debasing the national dialogue tweet-by-tweet,” the author wrote.
The White House has previously denounced the author’s book, saying it can’t be trusted because the author is anonymous.
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“The coward who wrote this book didn’t put their name on it because it is nothing but lies. Real authors reach out to their subjects to get things fact checked – but this person is in hiding, making that very basic part of being a real writer impossible. Reporters who choose to write about this farce should have the journalistic integrity to cover the book as what it is – a work of fiction,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
The anonymous author stands by writing the book, saying he or she hopes Americans will focus on the content of the book rather than the author. The author also promised that any profits from the book will be donated to nonprofit organizations focused on government accountability and standing up for the truth, such as the White House Correspondents’ Association.
According to the author, this will not be the last time the American public hears from him or her. The person also said there might be others who are considering speaking out before the 2020 election.
“I wrote it as a wake-up call to Americans who, like me, hoped for the best when it came to the Trump Presidency and wanted him to succeed,” the author wrote. “I want them to see what I've seen firsthand, which is that the man has daily displayed his unfitness for office and, frankly, that he's a danger to the country.”
Reddit provided a disclaimer that it wasn't able to verify that this was in fact the book's author but that the publisher gave that assurance.
ABC News' Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
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