No lie detector tests for finding op-ed author, White House says

The White House said on Monday that it was not considering lie detector tests to identify the senior official who wrote an anonymous New York Times op-ed depicting a “resistance” inside President Donald Trump’s administration.

The statement, delivered by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a briefing to reporters, contrasts with Vice President Mike Pence’s offer on Sunday to submit to a polygraph as part of an effort to identify the writer.


“Frankly, the White House and the staff here are focused on doing our jobs,” Sanders said.

On Friday, Trump urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to help find the author of the op-ed, which described chaos in the White House and a “resistance” by Cabinet secretaries and others to thwart some of the president’s impulsive actions.

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Trump has fumed publicly about the column since it was published on Wednesday, calling the writer “gutless” and saying the anonymous essay amounted to “treason.”

White House officials are trying to determine the identity of the senior administration official who wrote the piece, a person who Trump said he believes is probably someone not “very high up.” Pence, a number of top Cabinet officials and other high-level appointees have all denied being the author.

