Veteran journalist Carl Bernstein on Sunday urged the senior Trump administration official who wrote the anonymous opinion piece last week in the New York Times to reveal his or her identity and openly join the debate about President Trump.

"I think it's a legitimate article to publish anonymously and, at the same time, I think that there is something craven about the author not coming forward," Bernstein said to CNN during an interview when asked about the op-ed.

[Also read: White House staffers believe anonymous New York Times op-ed author is one of a few people: Report]

Bernstein distinguished the content of the controversial piece with an unnamed source he and Bob Woodward, his old reporting partner at the Washington Post, relied on during their coverage of former President Richard Nixon amid the Watergate scandal.

"This is different than the case of Deep Throat, where we were seeking information from someone inside during the Nixon presidency, someone who did not want to volunteer much information, and we were able to get some out of Deep Throat about an ongoing criminal conspiracy," he continued. "This is someone on the inside who has come to a newspaper and said, 'Here, I am going to give you this.'"

While the Times was "absolutely right" to give the op-ed a platform, Bernstein added he hoped the person would identify themselves "in the national interest," to give themselves "more credibility," and so they can properly contribute to the conversation about Trump's administration.