‘Embarrassment’: New York Times mocked after identity of ‘Anonymous’ Trump insider revealed

The man revealed as the anonymous insider behind explosive reports about Donald Trump gave a tricky answer when asked if it was him.

The New York Times has been widely panned for the “embarrassing” revelation of the identity of its much-hyped anonymous Trump administration insider behind a bombshell 2018 opinion piece.

The newspaper caused a major splash when it published the op-ed, headlined “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration”, which it characterised as having been written by a “senior official” working to undermine President Donald Trump.

Speculation about the identity of “Anonymous” – who also published a book last year titled A Warning – dominated national and international news coverage for weeks, with theories ranging from Vice President Mike Pence or Defence Secretary James Mattis to even First Lady Melania Trump.

On Wednesday, “Anonymous” outed himself as someone called Miles Taylor, a relatively low-level, unknown staffer from the Department of Homeland Security, who now works as a commentator for CNN.

Cillizza guessed it was either Don McGahn, Dan Coats, Kellyanne Conway, John Kelly, Kirstjen Nielsen, Jeff Sessions, James Mattis, Fiona Hill, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, or Melania Trump. It was Miles Taylor. https://t.co/FMHYGi33Wy

— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) October 28, 2020

The revelation sparked severe criticism from both sides of the aisle.

“Leaving aside how one feels about Taylor’s actions, I’m not sure that the NY Times decision to grant a DHS chief of staff anonymity for that op-ed and to describe him as a ‘senior administration official’ holds up especially well,” said Susan Hennessey, executive editor with the prominent anti-Trump blog, Lawfare.

“The mere fact that the majority of people clearly came away with the perception that the author was dramatically more senior that he was in reality means that the Times failed to provide its readership sufficient context.”

It’s an embarrassment. https://t.co/jIebjS1Q5d

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) October 28, 2020

Many pointed out that Mr Taylor was still a policy adviser at the time the op-ed was published.

Jonathan Swan from news site Axios described it as “an embarrassment”.

“I also didn’t realise the definition of ‘senior administration official’ could be *this* expansive,” he wrote. “Wasn’t even an agency chief of staff at the time the op-ed ran.”

ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl made the same point. “Is an adviser to a cabinet secretary really a ‘senior administration official’?” he asked. “The widespread impression at the time of the NYT op-ed was that ‘Anonymous’ was someone who actually advised the President.”

Mr Taylor had repeatedly denied being Anonymous.

When interviewed on CNN in August, Miles Taylor twice denied being behind the stories.

He lied twice during an interview on CNN in August when asked about the identity of Anonymous.

“Are you aware of who that is?” host Anderson Cooper asked him.

“I’m not,” Mr Taylor replied.

“And look, that was a parlour game in Washington D.C. of a lot of folks trying to think who that might be. I’ve got my own thoughts about who that might be.”

“You’re not Anonymous?” Cooper asked.

“I wear a mask for two things, Anderson, Halloween and pandemics. So no,” Mr Taylor said.

Vice News political correspondent Elizabeth Landers also released messages with Mr Taylor in which he denied being Anonymous.

I asked @MilesTaylorUSA during our @VICENews in August if he was Anonymous. He said no. Exchange below: pic.twitter.com/cz1jkku6Q3

— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) October 28, 2020

“Oh, I was gonna ask about Anonymous. Yeah. Are you Anonymous? Do you know who Anonymous is?” she wrote.

He repeated his line from CNN, adding, “I’m under the impression from press reporting that we’re gonna hear from this person imminently. And I hope we do.”

Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple said he had been informed by a CNN spokesperson that Mr Taylor would be kept on as a contributor despite lying to Cooper.

“CNN cannot have it both ways – slamming Trump for his lies, yet condoning a very big and blatant one by its own contributor,” Wemple said.

Conservative journalists poured scorn on The New York Times over the revelation.

Oh I guess it is true? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. That is so bleeping BEAUTIFUL I can't possibly be more thankful. I love this so much. The person that the NYT strongly insinuated was, like, the VP or WH Chief of Staff, or Cabinet Member was literally "Miles Taylor." HA HA HA

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 28, 2020

“I love this so much,” said Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist.

“The person that the NYT strongly insinuated was, like, the VP or WH Chief of Staff, or Cabinet Member was literally ‘Miles Taylor’. HA HA HA.”

She added, “I’m told ‘Miles Taylor’ is someone you wouldn’t know from Adam unless you watch Jake Tapper’s show, since apparently he features him on the regular. NYT and other Big Media sold him, falsely, as a top-tier name-brand Trump official when they were using him to tarnish Trump.”

Joe Gabriel Simonson from the Washington Examiner said, “In retrospect it makes sense that no one could guess who Anonymous was because no one was cynical enough to assume the NYT was essentially lying to all of us.”

Their Miles Taylor gambit should call into question all NYT reporting based on anonymous sources in the last several years. This was clearly a high level editorial decision to characterize him so wrongly. https://t.co/mWd29Pymx4

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) October 28, 2020

Many pointed out that it raised serious questions about other anonymous sources frequently used by The New York Times in its reporting.

“Now that you see what a ‘senior official’ looks like, imagine what sort of people are being relied on as anonymous sources,” National Review senior writer David Harsanyi said.

Reporter Chuck Ross from The Daily Caller asked, “Were NYT’s sources for the inaccurate Russia bounty story higher or lower ranking than Miles Taylor was when he wrote the NYT op-Ed?”

Mark Hemingway, senior writer at RealClearInvestigations, said the paper’s “Miles Taylor gambit should call into question all NYT reporting based on anonymous sources in the last several years”.

“This was clearly a high-level editorial decision to characterise him so wrongly,” he said.

Frenzied media coverage from 2018 about the bombshell was also dredged up.

“Some takes haven’t aged well,” wrote freelance journalist Drew Holden, who compiled a lengthy thread highlighting the most egregious examples.

Here’s what @CillizzaCNN wrote about the NYT anonymous op-ed writer in 2018. Chris, do you want to admit now that the NYT is a trash tabloid or nah? pic.twitter.com/MfSkhKNCda

— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) October 28, 2020

One particularly embarrassing example was from CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza, who penned a strident defence of The New York Times in 2018.

“Contrary to what Trump says on his Twitter feed, media organisations are very wary of giving anyone and everyone anonymity to make attacks,” Cillizza wrote.

The prominent political commentator stressed that it was “not a decision made lightly” and the decision to publish “should tell you that this isn’t some disgruntled mid-to-upper level manager buried in the bureaucracy”.

“This is a genuine high-ranking official,” he wrote. “A name most people who follow politics – and maybe some who don’t – would recognise. The Times simply wouldn’t do what it did for anything short of a major figure in Trump world.”

Republicans also slammed the revelation.

“Laughable as the ‘Miles Taylor Anonymous’ episode is, it’s every bit as damaging to the media,” said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

“The New York Times amplified a no-name agency deputy with no access to President Trump and misled Americans into thinking he was an influential senior official. Absolutely ridiculous.”

Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell said, he had “never heard of this guy”. “The DC media said he was an insider stopping decisions,” he said. “They embarrass themselves again.”

National Republican Senatorial Committee senior adviser Matt Whitlock likened it to “the Office episode when Michael promises everyone he has a big surprise to reward them and shows up with ice cream sandwiches and everyone is furious”.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany earlier responded to the revelation with a fiery statement.

“This low-level, disgruntled former staffer is a liar and a coward who chose anonymity over action and leaking over leading,” she said.

“The American people elected President Trump to carry out his vision for the country, not an arrogant Deep State operative trying to put their agenda ahead of the President’s America First policies.”

Speaking at a campaign rally on Wednesday, Mr Trump slammed Mr Taylor.

“This guy should be prosecuted,” he said. “This guy’s a low-level low-life that I don’t know, I have no idea who he is other than I got to see him a little while ago on television. But I think they threw him out a long time ago.”