The White House is blasting former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief of staff, Miles Taylor, after he revealed he anonymously penned a 2018 op-ed critical of President Donald Trump while he was in the administration.
After Taylor revealed that he was “Anonymous,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “This low-level, disgruntled former staffer is a liar and a coward who chose anonymity over action and leaking over leading.”
“He was ineffective and incompetent during his time as DHS Chief of Staff,” she added.
Taylor worked for the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019.
In the 2018 op-ed published by The New York Times, he claimed he was part of a group of senior administration officials who were thwarting Trump’s worst instincts.
After the op-ed was published, he was widely referred to as “Anonymous,” since his identity was not disclosed by the Times.
The paper said it agreed to publish the op-ed anonymously “at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure.”
In 2019, he anonymously published a book titled “A Warning,” which also painted Trump in a negative light.
But on Wednesday, he published a blog post where he revealed he was the author. He said, “We do not owe the President our silence. We owe him and the American people the truth.”
Donald Trump is a man without character. It’s why I wrote “A Warning”…and it’s why me & my colleagues have spoken out against him (in our own names) for months. It’s time for everyone to step out of the shadows. My statement: https://t.co/yuhTgZ4bkq
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) October 28, 2020
He continued, “I saw Donald Trump prove he is a man without character, and his personal defects have resulted in leadership failures so significant that they can be measured in lost American lives.”
Additionally, he claimed he wrote the book and the op-ed anonymously because he thought it “forced the President to answer them directly on their merits or not at all, rather than creating distractions through petty insults and name-calling.”
He also said he planned on revealing his identity prior to the election.
In August, Miles wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post under his name, where he encouraged Americans to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. He was since hired as a contributor for CNN.
After he revealed his identity, McEnany shared an interview Miles gave to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, where he was asked if he was “Anonymous.”
Miles responded, “I wear a mask for two things, Anderson: Halloween and pandemics. So, no.”
PROOF: Miles Taylor, who now admits to being “Anonymous,” once told us he was NOT Anonymous. He LIED!
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) October 28, 2020
This is everything people hate about Washington — two-faced liars who push their own agendas at the expense of the People. This is the epitome of the swamp! ⬇️ https://t.co/cNz1Fgpz5g
She said, “PROOF: Miles Taylor, who now admits to being ‘Anonymous,’ once told us he was NOT Anonymous. He LIED! This is everything people hate about Washington — two-faced liars who push their own agendas at the expense of the People. This is the epitome of the swamp! “
Trump also reacted to Miles’ revelation, “Who is Miles Taylor? Said he was ‘anonymous’, but I don’t know him – never even heard of him. Just another [New York Times] SCAM – he worked in conjunction with them.”
….associated with this FRAUD on the American people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2020
He added, “Now works for Fake News [CNN]. They should fire, shame, and punish everybody associated with this FRAUD on the American people!”
