Could President Trump have finally gotten rid of that anonymous New York Times op-ed writer without even realizing it?

That's what one former FBI agent speculated following the resignation of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday, per Mediaite. Josh Campbell, a CNN analyst and former FBI special agent, suggested on Twitter that Nielsen's resignation letter bears a striking resemblance to the Times op-ed written by an anonymous senior administration official who said they were part of a "resistance" working to undermine Trump's worst impulses from within.

While citing his FBI experience, Campbell observed that both Nielsen's resignation letter and the Times op-ed make heavy use of commas and em dashes, also pointing to a few other instances of similar choices.

As a trained investigator, I’m just going to go on record now saying that anonymous NYT op-ed was LOADED with commas and em dashes.



And so is this resignation letter. https://t.co/6KM1huiO0i https://t.co/GTdYRzumSd — Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) April 7, 2019

I might be wrong, but the style and cadence...



Nielsen: "And we have ramped up security measures..."



Anonymous NYT op-ed writer: "And we are trying to do what’s right..."



And don’t even get me started on the use of “historic,” “thwart,” “discourse,” and “safer”... https://t.co/VS2RmQolnJ — Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) April 7, 2019

Campbell noted that he is "just spitballing" here, but his theory would fit with reporting from CNN that Nielsen felt Trump had become "unhinged" on issues concerning the border, as well as reporting from The New York Times that she drafted a resignation letter last year but never submitted it.

The White House scrambled to find the writer of that anonymous op-ed when it was published in September 2018, but seven months later, its author has never been revealed, although former White House official Omarosa Manigault Newman in November cited rumors that the person had already been "quietly removed." For now, although a new theory has emerged, the mystery continues. Brendan Morrow