Who Wrote That Op-Ed? The Obvious Suspect

[Le Grand Pronounceur]

From Slate:

By WILLIAM SALETAN

SEPT 07, 20181:15 PM

Who wrote the anonymous op-ed against President Trump in Wednesday’s New York Times? All we know for certain is what the Times disclosed: that it’s a “senior official in the Trump administration.” But the most likely author, based on the op-ed’s content and style, is the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman.

Huntsman is an obvious suspect for several reasons. The article’s themes are classic Huntsman: effusive about conservative policies, blunt about low character. In 2016, he made the same points for and against Trump. The topic that gets the most space and detail in the piece is Huntsman’s current area, Russia. (As Slate’s Fred Kaplan points out, Trump has been circumventing and undermining Huntsman.) The prose, as in Huntsman’s speeches and interviews, is flamboyantly erudite. The tone, like Huntsman’s, is pious. And the article’s stated motive—“Americans should know that there are adults in the room”—matches a letter that Huntsman wrote to the Salt Lake Tribune in July. In the letter, Huntsman, responding to a columnist who thought the ambassador should resign rather than keep working for Trump, explained that public servants such as himself were dutifully attending to the nation’s business.

Like other suspects, Huntsman has issued a statement to deflect accusations that he wrote the Times op-ed. But the statement—actually just a tweet—doesn’t come from Huntsman. It comes from the spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The full text reads, “Amb Huntsman: Come to find, when you’re serving as the U.S. envoy in Moscow, you’re an easy target on all sides. Anything sent out by me would have carried my name. An early political lesson I learned: never send an anonymous op-ed.”

That’s a non-denial denial. The Times has already said that the author’s “identity is known to us.” So the piece can’t have been sent anonymously. It must have carried the author’s name. Which means the statement from Huntsman’s spokesperson is technically accurate, even if he wrote the piece. And no matter what he says, he’s still the most likely suspect—at least until somebody else steps forward to claim responsibility—because the piece is full of telltale words and phrases.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/new-york-times-op-ed-anonymous-writer-trump.html

Saletan goes on to list said words and phrases, but I still think the piece was written by Jeff Sessions.

[marylandblue]

1. Could be, but then I'd question the Time's decision to publish it

Huntsman would not have been involved in any decision to invoke the 25th Amendent, so he was either discussing hearsay or speculation.

[JI7]

4. how about discussing it with John Kelly or someone else ? would that count ?

[elleng]

2. How the Anonymous Op-Ed Came to Be

'The New York Times’s Opinion desk published an Op-Ed by an anonymous senior official in the Trump administration on Wednesday. By Friday, nearly 23,000 readers had submitted questions to us about the vetting process and our thinking behind publishing the essay.

Our Op-Ed editor, James Dao, has responded to a selection of the questions, which have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. . .

How did you find this writer?
Did The New York Times seek out the author of this piece, or did the author seek out The New York Times?

— Norma Buchanan, Billings, Mont.

Norma:

The writer was introduced to us by an intermediary whom we know and trust.

How do you vet a piece like this?
How are you certain of the author’s identity?

— Martin Trott, Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Through direct communication with the author, some background checking and the testimony of the trusted intermediary.

— Jim Dao'

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/reader-center/anonymous-op-ed-trump.html?

[amcgrath]

3. While this could be the writer

Let's not stick with one name.

It is driving the moron mad trying to figure out who did it, so let's leave him to sweat and not s the detective work for him.

I'd far rather see a series of articles claiming the writer to be every single member of his inner circle.

[Midnight Writer]

5. There should be an Op-ed every day fingering a different suspect. Mick Mulvaney would be a good one.

[hlthe2b]

6. I worry with this speculation about Huntsman that he is being endangered...

He is, after all the ambassador to Russia.

Saletan has good points in the supposition, but I agree that it is unlikely Huntsman's comments on the 25th amendment would pass muster for NYT (unless they chose to ignore that piece) because Huntsman is not a cabinet member and would have no way of knowing this had occurred..