Donald Trump asserted Tuesday afternoon that he knows who the Anonymous author is working against him from within the administration.

'I know who it is,' he told reporters before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews Tuesday when asked if there was a search at the White House for the author.

When pressed to share the name of the individual, the president said: 'I can't tell you that.'

'But I know who it is. But we won't get into it,' he continued. 'People know it's a fraud. I know who it is and I know who some of the leakers are. But some of the leakers don't exist. It's made up by the press.'

Questions over the identity of the author behind an October 2018 anonymous New York times op-ed and the book 'A Warning,' which was released more than a year later, has resurfaced after rumors circulated that the culprit is Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates.

Donald Trump said Tuesday afternoon the he knows the identity of the anonymous author working within his administration

'I know who it is. But we won't get into it. People know it's a fraud,' he told press before boarding Air Force One for a rare four-day west coast campaign stint

The president also asserted that he would tell 'certain people' when he wants to get information out to the press

Questions over the identity of Anonymous were re-upped in recent weeks after rumors circulated that the individual is Deputy National Security Council Advisor Victoria Coates

Trump declined to comment on the rumors that she is Anonymous, and said when he wants to share something with the media, he will do it his way.

'I know all about Anonymous. I know a lot about the leakers too. We know a lot,' he insisted.

'In fact, when I want to get something out to the press, I tell certain people. And it's amazing, it gets out there,' Trump said.

The president was departing Washington D.C. Tuesday for a rare four day campaign swing through the west coast.

Trump's stops include a Los Angeles fundraiser at the home of Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, a meeting with the Olympic organizing committee, addressing a prisoner graduation ceremony and an event with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who represents California's 23rd congressional district.

The trip also includes a trio of back-to-back-to-back campaign rallies on Wednesday in Phoenix, Arizona; Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Friday in Las Vegas, Nevada – which is where Democrats are holding the ninth primary debate Wednesday night.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham addressed the reports that Coates is Anonymous on Tuesday morning, claiming she doesn't know what would happen to the administration employee who wrote the anonymous book and op-ed but asserting that the individual 'needs to be found.'

She admitted that she doesn't know who the author is, despite reports emerging that it potentially could be Coates, who is currently facing reassignment.

'What can you tell us about her being moved out of the NSC?' Grisham was asked on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning.

'You know, I don't know the answer to that,' she said in regards to Coates. 'I don't know if that's something that's going to happen, if that's something that she wants to happen.'

'You know, whoever wrote the Anonymous book is a coward and whoever wrote the Anonymous book and the op-ed, they do need to be found,' she demanded. 'And the fact that they're working in government against the president and essentially against the American people is not good.'

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said Tuesday that Anonymous needs to be found. 'You know, whoever wrote the Anonymous book is a coward and whoever wrote the Anonymous book and the op-ed, they do need to be found,' she demanded

She told Fox & Friends Tuesday morning that the author is working 'against the American people'

Coates is potentially facing reassignment to the Department of Energy following accusations that she's behind the September 2018 New York Times op-ed, 'I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration' and the book, 'A Warning,' which was released in November 2019

'I don't know what's going to happen in terms of that particular employee. We don't usually talk about personnel. And that would be an NSC issue,' Grisham noted.

Coates is facing potential reassigned to the Department of Energy amid rumors that she is reportedly the author of the infamous New York Times anonymous op-ed and best selling book 'A Warning.'

The possible move comes just weeks after Coates was accused of being behind the Times article , 'I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,' which was published in September 2018, and the accompanying book, which was released more than a year later in November 2019.

Sources claimed that Coates had begun to fear for her job despite being recently promoted by National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien.

However, Coates, who is a former aide to Republican Sen Ted Cruz, isn't known to disagree with Trump's foreign policies, which doesn't make her a good fit for Anonymous. Coates, who is an art historian, is a political appointee to the Trump administration.

Earlier this month, book agents for A Warning denied rumors that Coates is Anonymous.

'To be very clear so there is no chance of any misunderstanding: Dr Coates is not Anonymous,' Matt Latimer, the co-founder of literary agency Javelin, told Politico.

Sources claimed that Coates (right, in 2016) had begun to fear for her job despite being recently promoted by national security adviser Robert O'Brien

In September 2018, the author of the Times column (pictured) was identified only as a 'senior official' from inside the Trump administration, a broad category that became the basis of a guessing game inside the capital beltway

Coates usually agrees with Trump's foreign policies, which doesn't make her a good fit for the Anonymous individual

'She does not know who Anonymous is. We have never discussed Anonymous or the book, A Warning, with her prior to its publication. She did not write it, edit it, see it in advance, know anything about it, or as far as we know ever read it,' he said in a statement.

The back of the book's cover reads: 'The truth about the president must be spoken, not after Americans have stood in the voting booth to consider whether to give him another term and not after he has departed office.

'Hopefully others will remedy the error of silence and choose to speak out.'

In September 2018, the author of the Times column was identified only as a 'senior official' from inside the Trump administration, a broad category that became the basis of a guessing game inside the capital beltway.

Trump attacked the author at the time, suggesting alternatively that the op-ed might be an act of treason, and that the author might be a fictitious creation of the Times rather than a real person.

'Does the so-called 'Senior Administration Official' really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source?' he tweeted at the time.

'If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!' Trump also tweeted at the time a single word: 'TREASON?'

The Times op-ed described the president as 'impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective' in the way he manages the government, and says the author is part of an organized 'resistance' whose goal is 'to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office'.

During a White House event with a group of sheriffs, Trump said the writer was 'probably... failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons'.

Sarah Sanders, then the White House press secretary said in a statement at the time that the essay was 'pathetic, reckless, and selfish' and challenged the Times to 'issue an apology.'

Trump attacked the author at the time, suggesting alternatively that the op-ed might be an act of treason, and that the author might be a fictitious creation of the Times rather than a real person

'This is just another example of the liberal media's concerted effort to discredit the President,' she said at the time.

Since the publication of the op-ed in 2018 and the book last year, others have been accused of being Anonymous.

The former speechwriter to Jim Mattis who wrote a tell-all about his time in the Pentagon has denied a suggestion he is also the author of the Anonymous op-ed and book about Donald Trump's White House - after allowing speculation to swirl for a full day.

Guy Snodgrass said in November that he was not the writer, addressing head-on a claim by the man who had previously correctly outed Joe Klein as the author of Primary Colors, the 1996 roman a clef about Bill Clinton's presidential campaign.

'No, I'm not the writer,' Snodgrass told CNN at the time.

'They asked me the question, I kind of batted it away. I thought it'd be asked and we'd be done… To put it to rest, no I'm not the author of 'A Warning,' I'm not the Anonymous op-ed writer.'