Miles Taylor, a former homeland security officer, reveals that he is ‘anonymous’

WASHINGTON – Miles Taylor, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security, who was the anonymous author of The New York Times of Ed article in 2018, has launched a hunt for Washington and his identity, describing President Trump as “provocative, hostile, petty and useless.” Taylor confirmed Wednesday.

Mr. Taylor was the anonymous author of “A Warning,” a book he wrote the following year describing the president as an “immoral” and “decent” leader whose abuse of power threatened the very foundations of American democracy. In an interview and a three-page report, he admitted that he had written both the book and the commentary Published online.

Mr. Taylor resigned from the Department of Homeland Security in June 2019, last summer after Mr. Shortly before the start of the Republican National Convention, he released a video declaring himself ineligible for the presidency, referring to Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. He supported Biden Jr..

But Mr. who has repeatedly denied being anonymous. Taylor, 33, did not reveal himself as the author of the commentary and book at the time.

On Wednesday, Mr. Mr. Trump. Taylor said he did not know who, Mr. Despite numerous pictures of the president with Taylor.

“Who is Miles Taylor? He said he was anonymous, but I did not know him – I had never heard of him. ” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter. “Another Times SCAM – He worked with them. He also worked for Big Tech Google. Now works for fake news N CNN. They should shoot, shame and punish all those involved in this fraud on the American people! ”

The Op-Ed pages of the Times are managed separately from the News Department, which never says anything about the identity of the anonymous.

Mr. As Taylor’s third Home Secretary, Kirstgen Nielsen’s top aide, Mr. Taylor served two years, and Mr. He wrote in the Times that he was part of a group of officials around Trump who quietly “frustrated some areas” with his agenda and his bad preferences. “

As a senior executive, Mr. Taylor often spoke with the president at the White House, especially on issues related to immigration, cyber security and terrorism. He left the government after Mr Nielsen was fired and later became head of Google’s national security relations. Mr. He has been on personal leave from the company for the past several months after approving Biden, Mr. He has been organizing other Republicans to campaign against Trump’s re-election.

“Two years ago, I published an anonymous poll in the New York Times about Donald Trump’s dangerous presidency. He responded with a short but telling tweet: ‘TREASON?’ ”Mr. Taylor wrote in his statement.

“When I left the administration, I wrote ‘a warning’, a character review of the current commander and a warning to voters that it was not as bad as it looks within the Trump administration – it’s bad,” he added.

Mr. Disclosure of Taylor’s identity may refresh the debate over his intentions, and his position on the Trump administration may raise questions about whether the Times’ opinion desk and book publisher are senior enough to justify his decision to keep his identity secret. As Secretary to the Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Taylor, Mr. He was one of the broadest political figures, numbering 240,000, frequently accessible to Trump and other senior White House officials.

At the time, the Times published an article with the caption: “The Times is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed article. We believe it is the only way to give readers an important perspective. ”

In the Times article, Mr. to attack the President anonymously. Taylor’s decision caused a stir in Washington because of claims about the president’s lack of character and inability to govern. In the book, Mr. Mr. Taylor. Trump was described as “a 12-year-old man in an air traffic control tower, blindly pushing government buttons and being indifferent to flights crossing the runway.”

Mr. Taylor’s article has had little impact over time, as Trump administration officials once linked names to public criticism of the president’s leadership and character, including former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Mr. Trump’s third national security adviser, John R. Bolton. But Mr. Taylor’s article was one of the first cracks in the White House’s defense, and led to long-held speculation about the author’s identity, with readers pointing to specific passages in it, proving who the author must have been.

The White House went on its own long hunt to identify who wrote the article. Within days of its release, Mr. Trump, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general at the time, declared that he wanted to find the author, “I would say Jeff should investigate who wrote that piece because I truly believe it is national security. ”

Late last November, the Judiciary sought to know whether the author had breached confidential agreements regarding classified information from the publisher of the forthcoming book.

The president called the author of last year’s Times article a “brave” bureaucrat “TREASON?” In a statement before the book’s release last year, Stephanie Grisham, the White House’s press secretary, called the author “a coward” and wrote a “fictional work” filled with lies about the president.

“Real teachers reach out to their subjects to verify things – but this person hides, which makes the basic part of being a real writer impossible!” Ms. Grisham said.

On Wednesday, the president’s current press secretary, Kaylee McNani, called on Mr. He called Taylor a “low-level, dissatisfied former employee,” and he was “a liar and a coward. He chose to be anonymous about the operation and took the lead.

Ms McCann said, “The anonymity of a low-ranking official is appalling, and it is clear that the New York Times is bidding on Never-Trumpers and Democrats.”

In the book, Mr. If Taylor reveals his identity, Mr. He said he decided to remain anonymous, believing that Trump and his allies would have allowed him to divert attention from the subject of the criticism he had leveled against the president.

“I have decided to publish this anonymously because this discussion is not about me,” Mr Taylor wrote. “Removing my identity from the equation misses the opportunity to create a distraction for him. What will he do when there is no one to attack, just an idea?”

In his statement on Wednesday, Mr. Taylor acknowledged that “some people think it’s questionable to make such serious allegations against an incumbent president under the guise of anonymity.” But he said the decision was reasonable.

“Publishing my criticisms without character forced the president to respond directly to their merits, rather than creating distractions by minor insults and name-calling,” Mr. Taylor wrote. “I wanted to focus on the arguments. By the time I asked, ‘What would he do when there is no attacking person, only an idea?’ We got the answer. He was not bored. Ideas stood on their own two feet. “

The Times’ spokesman Daniel Rhodes said in a statement: “We take our duty to protect the evidence seriously.”

He added: “Many important stories in important areas such as politics, national security and trade can never be reported if our journalists violate that trust. In this case, however, the author has personally terminated our agreement to keep his identity confidential. We can confirm that he wrote the anonymous Op-Ed. We do not plan to comment further. ”

The publisher of the book, Sean Desmond of Twelve Books, said in a statement that the company is proud of the book, which “seems more and more valuable every day.”

He added, “Miles Taylor has been a great publishing partner. We support him. It is a real act of political courage to tell his story.”

Mr. Taylor has refused to charge any upfront fees for writing this, and has promised to donate a large portion of any royalties to non-profit organizations, including the White House Reporters’ Association, a member organization for reporters that includes the president.

The book topped the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list for the week of December 8th.

Mr. Taylor joined the Trump administration in 2017 and eventually served as Ms. Nielsen’s vice president before being promoted in 2018. Previously, he served for two years on the House Homeland Security Committee, serving as an aide to Republican Rep. Michael McCall. Of Texas who was chairman of the committee at the time.

As one of Mrs. Nielsen’s top advisers, Mr. During some of the most controversial decisions in Trump’s first three years in office, Mr. Taylor was one of those who banned travel from the majority of Muslim countries, and the decision to separate immigrant children from their parents at the border and attempts to divert asylum seekers.

His role in those events sparked protests among Google employees when the company announced it would be hiring Google. Mr. Google has demanded at least one petition to remove Taylor, saying it was “complicit in helping Nielsen to dismantle thousands of immigrant families.”

Mr. Mrs. Taylor. Mr. Nielsen. Mr. Ms. Nielsen ‘s opposition to some of Trump’s demands – including closing the border with Mexico and shooting illegal immigrants in the legs – slowly led to her dismissal.