JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump declared Friday [9-7-18] that the Justice Department should investigate and unmask the author of a bitingly critical New York Times opinion piece purportedly written by a member of an administration ‘resistance’ movement straining to thwart his most dangerous impulses. Trump cited ‘national security’ as the reason for such an extraordinary probe, and he called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to get it going. He also said he was exploring bringing legal action against the newspaper over publication of the essay two days earlier…A White House official later said Trump’s call for a government investigation was an expression of his frustration with the essay, not an order for federal prosecutors to take action. Though the article was strongly critical of Trump, no classified information appears to have been revealed by the author or leaked to the newspaper, which would be a crucial bar to clear before a leak investigation could be contemplated.”
–The Associated Press, “Trump Urges Justice Department to Unmask ‘Resistance’ Writer,” The New York Times online, September 7, 2018