Trump says attorney general should investigate anonymous article

US president Donald Trump said on Friday that attorney general Jeff Sessions should investigate the source of an anonymous piece in the New York Times this week which was highly critical of the president.

Speaking aboard Air Force One ahead of a rally in North Dakota, Mr Trump was asked if he would consider directing attorney general Jeff Sessions to investigate the identity of the author. “I think so,” he said. “Because I think it’s national security – I would say Jeff should be investigating who the author of that piece was because I really believe it’s national security.”

He also suggested that the government could take legal action against the New York Times. Asked about the issue by reporters, he said his administration was "looking at that right now" without giving any further details. "Eventually the name of this sick person will come out."

Mr Trump has fulminated about the article that appeared in the New York Times on Wednesday. Written by an anonymous senior administration official, it alleged that there was a "quiet resistance" working within the White House with the aim of frustrating the president's agenda.

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‘Disgrace’

Mr Trump said it was a “disgrace” that the newspaper had published the piece. “For somebody to do this is very low, and I think, journalistically and from many different standpoints, and maybe even from the standpoint of national security.”

Since the publication of the article, more than 20 top Trump administration officials have denied that they authored the piece.

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Halley was the latest senior figure to denounce the article. In an op-ed piece for the Washington Post, Ms Haley wrote that "what this anonymous author is doing is very dangerous".

She continued: “I proudly serve in this administration, and I enthusiastically support most of its decisions and the direction it is taking the country. But I don’t agree with the president on everything. When there is disagreement, there is a right way and a wrong way to address it. I pick up the phone and call him or meet with him in person.”

The president also hit out at the forthcoming book by Bob Woodward on Friday, dismissing the writer as a "total fraud" and an "idiot". He also suggested that libel laws should be "toughened up".

‘Show business’

"I'm highly educated and always did well, always did well, no matter what I did," he continued. "Whether I was in show business – I was in show business, I had The Apprentice, one of the top shows on television – no matter what I did, before that I was a businessman, I was great at business. Then I tried politics and I started off as president. Guess what happened? I won," he said in comments to reporters on Air Force One.

As supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faced his fourth day before the Senate judiciary committee in Washington, Mr Trump also criticised Democrats’ conduct during the hearings, highlighting Mr Kavanaugh’s professional credentials.

Senior Democrats have aggressively questioned Mr Trump’s nominee about his views on abortion, racial profiling and the constitutional rights of the president. At times the four-day hearing has been acrimonious after documents relating to Mr Kavanaugh which had been deemed to be confidential were publicly released on the urging of Democrats.

Endorsed

After two days of questioning by senators, the committee heard from legal experts both for and against the nominee on Friday. Despite tough questioning, Mr Kavanaugh is expected to be endorsed by the Senate where Republicans have a majority. Asked yesterday if he had any doubts about Mr Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell replied: “None whatsoever.”