Energy

EPA Chief Denies Writing NYT Op-Ed, And Calls On The Author To Resign

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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler denied writing an anonymous New York Times op-ed on the “resistance” inside the Trump administration to the president’s agenda.

Wheeler tweeted on Wednesday he was “honored to serve in his cabinet” and called on the person who did write the op-ed to resign.

I support President Trump @POTUS 100% and am honored to serve in his cabinet. Whoever wrote the op-ed should resign. https://t.co/w3F06WQPPV

— Acting Administrator Wheeler (@EPAAWheeler) September 6, 2018

Wheeler took over EPA in July after former Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned amid a flurry of ethics investigations. Wheeler will likely serve until President Donald Trump names Pruitt’s successor.

Wheeler is one of several top Trump administration officials to deny authoring the op-ed published Monday by The Times. The op-ed’s anonymous author claimed to be a senior Trump administration official.

“I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” the anonymous official wrote in The Times.

The unidentified official claims to be one of the many of the senior officials” that are “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” (RELATED: Foreign Agents? Congress Investigates A Second US Environmental Group Over Chinese Ties)

The official wrote that Trump’s “impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic” in his article explaining why he and others are undermining an elected leader.

Top Trump administration officials denied authoring the op-ed and railed against The Times for printing the anonymous article. Vice President Mike Pence’s office said The Times “should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed.”

“It’s not mine,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, adding “it shouldn’t surprise anyone that The New York Times, a liberal newspaper that has attacked this administration relentlessly, chose to print such a piece.”

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson have also denied writing the op-ed.

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