President Trump, in an interview with Fox News before a rally in Montana, addressed the New York Times Op-Ed saying it's "a very unfair thing" that the writer of the opinion is anonymous, adding that the administration can't discredit the account without the person's identity.

This was unusual: The interview was taped on a stage in the arena in front of the crowd.

Trump also called the White House "a well oiled machine" and that there is "a lot of love in the administration."

"So they take one person out of thousands but what's unfair -- I don't mind when they write a book and they make lies, cause it gets discredited. We just discredited the last one. We discredit all of them because it's lies," Trump said.

"But I'll tell you," he continued, "when somebody writes and you can't discredit, because you have no idea who they are usually you'll find out it's a background that was bad. It might not be a Republican, it may not be a Conservative. It may be a deep state person that's been there a long time."