A former chief of staff to a Donald Trump minister revealed Wednesday, October 28, to have been the author in 2018 of an explosive anonymous forum denouncing the president's erratic behavior.

"We do not owe the President the silence. We owe him and the American people the truth," wrote Miles Taylor, former chief of staff to Homeland Security Minister (DHS) John Kelly, in a column published on the site Medium and titled "Why I'm No Longer Anonymous." 

The revelation of his identity drew heavy criticism from the New York Times, which published this text claiming that its author was a "senior official" in the government. 

"Fear of retaliation"

In his text published on Medium, Miles Taylor claims to be "a Republican" and to have "wanted this president to be successful".

"But too often in times of crisis, I have seen Donald Trump prove that he has no character and that his personal weaknesses have caused leadership failures that can be measured in loss of American life," explains the former official, who worked at the Ministry of Internal Security between January 2017 and summer 2019. He assures that many members of the government were of the same opinion, but that "the majority hesitated to speak out for fear of reprisals" .

At a campaign rally in Arizona, Donald Trump quipped "a guy who never worked in the White House" and wrote "a bogus book" saying he should be prosecuted.

Sarah Matthews, spokesperson for the White House, she denounced a "finished loser" and criticized the New York Times for having guaranteed the anonymity to "an official of lower rank".

In his text, "Anonymous" recounted how he and others struggled from within to fight the "worst inclinations" of a president with "mean", "brash" and "ineffective" leadership.

He said in particular that the president was harming "the good health" of the republic.

"Putting the country above the party"

The dissemination of this anonymous forum had sparked controversy.

Donald Trump had cried "betrayal" and called the anonymous author a "coward".

A year later, "Anonymous" published the book "A Warning," a "shocking, first-hand testimony to President Trump and his work," according to its editor.

Miles Taylor defended his choice of anonymity on Wednesday.

"I wanted the attention to be on the arguments themselves", rather than offering Donald Trump an opportunity to "distract attention with petty slurs and bird names."

With less than a week to go before the presidential election, he also called on Republican voters to "put the country above the party" and vote for Democrat Joe Biden.

"I think Joe Biden's decency will bring us together where Donald Trump's dishonesty has torn us apart," he assures us.

With AFP

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