Tucker Carlson of Fox News think he has a "pretty good idea" who wrote the anti-Trump op-ed now in wide circulation, but he's awaiting confirmation before going public, reports the Hill. At the Weekly Standard, Michael Warren has narrowed it down to four likely suspects:
- Larry Kudlow, chair of the National Economic Council, whose free-market views don't always go over well in the White House.
- Kevin Hassett, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, whose views on issues from tax reform to the military generally line up with those of the op-ed writer.
- Dan Coats, director of National Intelligence, who's near the end of his political career and would have little to lose from the fallout.
- Mike Pompeo, secretary of state and former CIA chief. "As someone fond of, and thought fondly of, by CIA agents, Pompeo could be particularly irked by the suggestion by Trump and his supporters that a 'deep state' is at work against the president," Warren writes.
Slate rounds up those who've issued denials, including Coats, Pompeo, Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, Treasury chief Steve Mnuchin, and VP Mike Pence, whose
fondness for the term "lodestar," used in the op-ed, has raised eyebrows. (See what
Jimmy Kimmel and other late-night hosts think.)