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SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., now the U.S. ambassador to Russia, said Thursday he's not the anonymous senior Trump administration official who wrote a New York Times op-ed highly critical of the president.

"Come to find, when you’re serving as the U.S. envoy in Moscow, you’re an easy target on all sides. Anything sent out by me would have carried my name. An early political lesson I learned: Never send an anonymous op-ed," Huntsman said.

His statement was tweeted by embassy spokeswoman Andrea Kalan after the Daily Mail posted a story quoting an unnamed U.S. State Department lawyer suggesting Huntsman was the op-ed's author.

"I could see it being Huntsman," the British tabloid quoted the lawyer as saying Thursday. "Some of it fits, and he's the kind of guy who would see it as his duty to undermine the boss for a greater good."

The tabloid said the lawyer "emphasized that there's no hard evidence to point to the diplomat. But, like the op-ed's writer, Huntsman 'worshipped at (John) McCain's feet' and considered him 'the best example of an honorable guy in the Senate."

The New York Times op-ed is titled, "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," and states that many senior officials "are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."

It uses the president's reluctance to expel Russian spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain as an example of how those around Trump "knew better," calling their actions "the work of the steady state."

Related:

Trump fumes over NYT op-ed; top officials swiftly deny role Pushing back against explosive reports his own administration is conspiring against him, President Donald Trump lashed out against the anonymous senior official who wrote a New York Times opinion piece claiming to be part of a "resistance" working "from within" to thwart his most dangerous impulses.

The op-ed, published online Wednesday and in Thursday's print edition, cites McCain as "a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue." The Arizona senator died of brain cancer and was honored in ceremonies last week.

Huntsman, who returned to the United States from Moscow to attend funeral services for McCain at the National Cathedral in Washington last Saturday, told the Deseret News that aside from his father, McCain was his greatest mentor.

"It was the highest honor to associate with him. He was a mentor in many ways. Country first and bipartisanship were deeply ingrained due to his influence," Huntsman said of McCain, a longtime friend.

The tweet from the embassy in Moscow included a retweet of a statement from White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying, "The media's wild obsession with the identity of the anonymous coward is recklessly tarnishing the reputation of thousands of great Americans who proudly serve our country and work for President Trump."

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