A Pentagon official who was a speechwriter for former Defense Secretary James Mattis has been named as the author “Anonymous” in a report Monday in the New Republic.
Guy Snodgrass, who has a new book out under his own name, was given a chance to deny the report later in an interview on Fox News.
But Mr. Snodgrass parried the question, even when host Trace Gallagher asked directly “so you are not denying that you are Anonymous.”
“I just heard this reporting as I was coming over to the studio, I got invited on to talk about national security,” he replied. “There is a lot to talk about there.”
“Anonymous” is the pseudonym for a senior administration official who portrayed President Trump in a New York Times column and now in a book “A Warning” as an ignorant and impulsive man-child surrounded by a mix of sycophants and people trying to prevent his recklessness from doing real damage.
The New Republic article that claimed Mr. Snodgrass as “Anonymous” based that claim on similarities with his book “Holding the Line,” a memoir of his time at the Pentagon, which “makes the clues to Anonymous’s identity apparent.”
TNR author David Kusnet noted that “As in ’A Warning,’ the sentences and paragraphs are pithy and punchy. Every chapter in both books begins with an inspiring but not cliché quotation from a historic figure. Many passages in the books are remarkably similar: the ordeal of conducting a Pentagon briefing for Trump; national security staffers exchanging appalled asides about Trump’s conduct of foreign policy via Twitter; and the arguments for why American alliances strengthen national security and why immigration policy shouldn’t be based on building a border wall.
“In particular, both books stress that, when briefed about international alliances, Trump derails discussions by griping about how allies are stiffing the U.S., from allegedly miserly NATO contributions to ostensibly one-sided trade policies,” Mr. Kusnet wrote.
The article prompted Mr. Gallagher to tell Mr. Snodgrass that the article “makes a very good case … are you ’Anonymous’?”
Mr. Snodgrass replied that it was a “great question,” and issued the non-denial that “if I was going to make an announcement like that I would come into the studio with you in New York City.”
Mr. Gallagher wasn’t satisfied, noting that Mr. Snodgrass had tweeted out a link to the TNR article earlier, also without denying its claim that he was “Anonymous.”
“Why not just deny it outright? You said you just heard about it on your way to the studio but you sent out the tweet today not really denying it,” he said.
“It’s the latest in a long series of D.C. parlor games, not unique to this point in time, it’s been going on for decades,” Mr. Snodgrass replied in another non-denial.
Dan Spinelli, a reporter with the left-wing site Mother Jones, wrote on Twitter that he had “pressed him on whether it was true.”
“No comment at this time” was the reply, according to Mr. Spinelli.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.