/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f99fa217ca056e3e3b001fc/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=2646&cropY1=189&cropY2=1678&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "Trump Calls To Prosecute Ex-DHS Official Miles Taylor Over Anonymous Op-Ed")
Topline
President Donald Trump reacted furiously to the announcement by former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor that he was the author of an anonymous New York Times op-ed about an internal “resistance” to Trump within the administration, with the president calling for him to be prosecuted and disparaging details of his career despite claiming minutes earlier to have “never heard of” him.
BULLHEAD CITY, ARIZONA – OCTOBER 28: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally on … [+]
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Key Facts
“In my opinion he should be prosecuted,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Goodyear, Ariz., on Wednesday, calling Taylor a “sleazebag” and a “low-level employee” who never worked in the White House and was “quickly removed from his job a long time ago.”
Taylor served for two years as a senior official in the Department of Homeland Security, a job which he said involved briefing Trump in the White House, before resigning in June 2019.
Trump took aim at details of Taylor’s career, including his CNN commentator gig, despite tweeting minutes earlier “Who is Miles Taylor? Said he was ‘anonymous,’ but I don’t know him – never even heard of him.”
Trump also tweeted about Taylor in August when the latter endorsed Biden and accused Trump of claiming “magical authorities” beyond the law, with the president calling him a “disgruntled employee” and stating he’d “never heard of him” despite photos of them together.
Trump’s professed lack of knowledge about Taylor on Wednesday also contradicts his claim in February that he knew the identity of the op-ed writer, telling reporters, “I can’t tell you that… We won’t get into it.”
Key Background
Taylor is far from the only political opponent Trump has called to prosecute in recent months. Trump has long called for Justice Department and Senate probes into his enemies, including former FBI Director Jim Comey, former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent in the presidential election. Trump has also taken a hard line on leakers, calling them “traitors and cowards” and launching numerous internal probes into various leaks.
Chief Critic
“Earlier this year he said he knew who Anonymous was. This summer blasted me personally for speaking out against him. An hour ago said he didn’t know me. But now knows me again,” Taylor tweeted. “Time for a head check-up for [Donald Trump].”
Crucial Quote
“Many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” Taylor wrote in the op-ed in 2018, declaring “our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.”
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