WASHINGTON – As President Donald Trump continues to bash the extraordinary criticism from within his administration, Vice President Mike Pence and other officials began denying authorship of an op-ed that has thrown the administration into turmoil.

"The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds," tweeted Jarrod Agen, communications director for Pence. "The @nytimes should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed. Our office is above such amateur acts."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during a trip to India, told reporters "it's not mine," and denounced the Times for publishing the anonymous article that indicates Trump may be facing the prospect of revolt within his own administration.

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Internet sleuths had identified Pence as a suspect because the piece uses the term "lodestar," one of the vice president's favorite words.

The New York Times published an op-ed from an anonymous Trump official who said staff members are working to block bad decisions by the president, on issues ranging from free trade to military policy.

In the piece entitled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," the author says that "many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office."

Describing Trump as unprincipled and "amoral," the author wrote: "Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back."

The piece compared Trump unfavorably to the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., described as a "lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue."

A livid Trump questioned whether the author is a legitimate administration official, but also demanded that the Times out him or her and suggested that the person should be investigated.

"Does the so-called 'Senior Administration Official' really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source?" Trump tweeted Wednesday. "If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!"

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said "the coward" who wrote the piece should step forward and resign, saying "he is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people."