Mike Pence has said he would submit to a lie detector test “in a heartbeat” to prove he was not the author of an anonymous op-ed describing an apparent “resistance” movement within the Trump administration.

Calling the article an “assault on our democracy”, the vice president dismissed a theory he was the potential author of the piece because it uses the word “lodestar” – a word Mr Pence has repeatedly used in speeches – as a mere effort to “distract attention” from the Trump administration’s achievements.

With the president clearly irked by The New York Times op-ed, Mr Pence made clear he would do whatever Mr Trump needed to prove his own innocence that he was not the “senior administration official” said to be behind the piece.

“I would agree to take it in a heartbeat and would submit to any review the administration wanted to do,” Mr Pence told Fox News Sunday. Possible use of lie detector tests had been discussed by Trump administration officials in the wake of the op-ed’s publication last week, according to The New York Times.

Mr Pence added that whether or not to administer lie detector tests to administration officials would “be a decision for the president”.

“This individual [needs] to recognise that they are literally violating an oath,” he said. “If they are a senior administration official, that they are violating an oath, not to the president, but to the constitution.

“To have an individual who took that oath – literally say that they work every day to frustrate the president advancing the agenda he was elected to advance – is undemocratic. It’s not just deceitful, but it’s really an assault on our democracy. And that person should do the honourable thing, step forward and resign,” the vice president added.

Mr Pence said that the op-ed posed a risk to national security, and that the author – described as a “senior administration official” – was “un-American”.

“We’ll find out if there was criminal activity involved,” Mr Pence said. “I think the president’s concern is that this individual may have responsibilities in the area of national security.”

The interview was one of a number for Mr Pence on Sunday, with another Trump administration official, Kellyanne Conway, echoing the vice president on CNN’s State of the Union.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. 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In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. 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Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. 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Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

“There could be a national security risk at hand,” she warned. “It depends on what else has been divulged by this individual … Anybody who would do this, you don’t know what else they’re saying.” There is no indication yet, other than from the Trump administration, that the person who wrote the op-ed may have had a hand in national security matters.

Mr Trump has called the op-ed “treasonous”, and on Friday the president called on attorney general Jeff Sessions to lead an investigation to identify the author.

“I think this person is going to suss himself or herself out,” Ms Conway said, suggesting that writing the op-ed itself was likely not criminal behaviour. “Cowards are like criminals, eventually they tell the wrong person.”

Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Mr Pence said he thought nobody on this staff had anything to do with the article: “Let me be very clear, I’m 100 per cent confident that no one on the vice president’s staff was involved in this anonymous editorial.”

Donald Trump says Jeff Sessions will investigate the op-ed

The author of the op-ed wrote that executive branch officials are “working to insulate their operations from [the president’s] whims” and that his “impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back”. It also alleged that senior staffers had spoken about the possibility of invoking the 25th amendment of the US constitution as a mechanism for removing Mr Trump.

The 25th amendment provides for a sitting president’s removal if the vice president and a majority of cabinet secretaries pronounce him or her unfit to discharge the duties of office, however Mr Pence denied that he or others in the administration had spoken about it.

“No. Never,” Mr Pence told CBS when asked if he had had conversations about invoking the 25th amendment, adding: “Why would we be...?”

In regards to one of the other clouds hanging over the White House – special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with Trump campaign officials – Mr Pence said he would be willing to do interviews by Mr Mueller’s team. Mr trump has constantly decried the probe as a “witch hunt”.

The NYT op-ed appeared in the same week that excerpts from the new book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward – also about the state of the White House under Mr Trump – made their way into the press. Fear: Trump in the White House has its official release on Tuesday, and paints a similar picture to the author of editorial.

In a number of examples collected by Mr Woodward – one of the journalists who helped break the Watergate scandal – there is an instance of former Trump adviser Gary Cohn allegedly stealing a letter about withdrawing the US from a trade deal with South Korea from the president’s desk so he cannot sign it. Collected through dozens of anonymous interviews with officials, Mr Woodward also suggests that top administration officials, such as chief of staff John Kelly and defence secretary James Mattis, insulted the president’s intelligence.

Cabinet ministers have lined up to deny being the author of the op-ed, and have also denied the instances described in Mr Woodward’s book ever took place. Mr Kelly and Mr Mattis were particularly strong.

On Sunday Mr Pence also spoke about the book, saying that he doubted the story about Mr Cohn was true – but stopped short of disputing claims that Mr Trump had himself mocked senior staff.

According to Fear, Mr Trump criticised Mr Sessions and told commerce secretary Wilbur Ross he was “past his prime”.

“Well, I would tell you I know this president has great respect for the men and women who serve in this cabinet,” Mr Pence said when directly asked if he denounced the specific claims in Mr Woodward’s book about insults against cabinet members. “These accounts are very foreign to me. And I’m just not aware of instances where they’ve occurred and or where they would occur. But look, I want to stipulate that working in the White House is not for everybody.”

The release of The New York Times editorial has somewhat stolen the thunder away from Mr Woodward, known around Washington as a diligent reporter who generally refuses to insert his own judgement or analysis. Some critics have hit out at this flat, reportorial style, but with the Trump administration denying all insider accounts of the presidency as “fabrications” the authority provided by that style should be welcomed.