President Donald Trump says Attorney General Jeff Sessions should investigate the identity of the author of an anonymous New York Times opinion piece.
Trump says in an interview Friday with reporters aboard Air Force One that he believes the opinion piece critical of his leadership is a "national security" issue.
Asked if he would take any action against the Times, Trump says "we're going to see, I'm looking at that right now."
Adds Trump: "We're going to take a look at what he had, what he gave, what he's talking about also where he is right now."
Trump says if the person had a high-level security clearance, "I don't want him in those meetings."
Trump reiterated that it was a "disgrace" that the Times would publish the piece.
Many members of Trump Cabinet have denied writing the column.
Are the investigative “journalists” of the New York Times going to investigate themselves - who is the anonymous letter writer?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2018
Meanwhile, Melania Trump says the anonymous author of a critical opinion piece about President Trump is "sabotaging" the country through "cowardly actions."
The first lady says in a statement Thursday that "if a person is bold enough to accuse people of negative actions, they have a responsibility to publicly stand by their words and people have the right to be able to defend themselves."
She directly addresses the unidentified senior administration official who is said to have written the piece published by The New York Times: "To the writer of the oped - you are not protecting this country, you are sabotaging it with your cowardly actions."
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