The identity of the author known as “Anonymous” has been revealed. Ahead of the New York Times story he authored — along with a subsequent book — speculation was flying about just how “high level” of a position this person held in the Trump administration to warrant such interest from the media and Democrats (pardon the redundancy). That person came forward today, and he is a CNN contributor who worked for a time in the Department of Homeland Security (though he didn’t hold that position at the time). In other words, NOT exactly a “high level” member of the Trump administration.
The New York Times obviously knew all this at the time they published his story, but it didn’t matter.
Reporter David Martosko has this take on the situation:
So everyone who breathlessly worshipped at the altar of Anonymous got punked by a nobody who never had any influence?
That's worse than interviewing Michael Avenatti. At least he was interesting.
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) October 28, 2020
Editors who granted this guy anonymity as though he were a serious player with real juice in the administration should turn in their press passes. It was journalistic malpractice and pure hackery. https://t.co/ulkfWphyZs
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) October 28, 2020
And interviewing Avenatti was also one of CNN’s favorite things to do!
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