Anonymous revealed: Miles Taylor identifies himself as Trump official behind explosive op-ed, book

Anonymous, the previously unidentified "senior Trump official "behind an explosive op-ed and tell-all book, has revealed his identity at last. Photo / Getty

Anonymous, the senior Trump official who published an explosive opinion piece and a tell-all book from inside the administration, has finally revealed his identity, six days before the presidential election.

His name is Miles Taylor, and he is the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security.

The Trump campaign will likely breathe a sigh of relief that Anonymous did not turn out to be someone with a higher profile.

Also softening any potential blow to the President is the fact that Mr Taylor has already been publicly critical of Trump since leaving the administration.

He endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in August.

Taylor has released a statement explaining his decision to criticise Trump from within the administration without identifying himself.

"More than two years ago, I published an anonymous opinion piece in The New York Times about Donald Trump's perilous presidency, while I was serving under him. He responded with a short but telling tweet: 'TREASON?'" he said today.

"Trump sees personal criticism as subversive.

The book anonymously written by a senior administration official. Photo / Supplied

"We do not owe the President our silence. We owe him and the American people the truth.

"Make no mistake: I am a Republican, and I wanted this President to succeed. That's why I came into the Administration with John Kelly, and it's why I stayed on as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security.

"But too often in times of crisis, 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.

"I witnessed Trump's inability to do his job over the course of two-and-a-half years. Everyone saw it, though most were hesitant to speak up for fear of reprisals.

"So when I left the Administration I wrote A Warning, a character study of the current commander in chief and a caution to voters that it wasn't as bad as it looked inside the Trump Administration — it was worse.

"While I claim sole authorship of the work, the sentiments expressed within it were widely held among officials at the highest levels of the federal government. In other words, Trump's own lieutenants were alarmed by his instability.

"Much has been made of the fact that these writings were published anonymously. The decision wasn't easy, I wrestled with it, and I understand why some people consider it questionable to levy such serious charges against a sitting President under the cover of anonymity. But my reasoning was straightforward, and I stand by it.

"Issuing my critiques without attribution forced the President to answer them directly on their merits or not at all, rather than creating distractions through petty insults and name-calling. I wanted the attention to be on the arguments themselves.

"At the time I asked, 'What will he do when there is no person to attack, only an idea?' We got the answer. He became unhinged. And the ideas stood on their own two feet.

"To be clear, writing those works was not about eminence (they were published without attribution), not about money (I declined a hefty monetary advance and pledged to donate the bulk of the proceeds), and not about crafting a score-settling 'tell-all' (my focus was on the President himself and his character, not denigrating former colleagues).

"Nevertheless, I made clear I wasn't afraid to criticise the President under my name. In fact, I pledged to do so. That is why I've already been vocal throughout the general election. I've tried to convey as best I can — based on my own experience — how Donald Trump has made America less safe, less certain of its identity and destiny, and less united. He has responded predictably, with personal attacks meant to obscure the underlying message that he is unfit for the office he holds.

"Yet Trump has failed to bury the truth."

Taylor was asked directly about the identity of Anonymous during an interview on CNN in August. He lied.

"Are you aware of who that is?" host Anderson Cooper asked him.

"I'm not," Taylor replied.

"And look, that was a parlour game in Washington D.C. of a lot of folks trying to think who that might be. I've got my own thoughts about who that might be."

"You're not Anonymous?" Cooper asked him directly.

"I wear a mask for two things, Anderson, Halloween and pandemics. So no," Mr Taylor said.

“I wear a mask for two things, Anderson: Halloween and pandemics. So, no,” says @MilesTaylorUSA, when asked by @AndersonCooper if he is the author of the op-ed book written by someone called Anonymous. pic.twitter.com/sPjs4OoAnp

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) August 21, 2020

The speculation over Anonymous's identity exploded in 2018 after he published an opinion piece in The New York Times, claiming there was a "resistance" inside the Trump administration working against the President's wishes.

"To be clear, ours is not the popular 'resistance' of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous," Mr Taylor wrote at the time.

"But we believe 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.

"That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office.

"The root of the problem is the President's amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.

"Although he was elected as a Republican, the President shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright."

He went on to write a book as well, called A Warning. That was published last year.