Trump continued Thursday morning, tweeting, “The Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the Fake News Media, are going Crazy — & they don’t know what to do.” The term “deep state” refers to a supposed conspiratorial group within the government.
Reactions outside the Administration
John Brennan, former CIA director, said the Times piece is an example of “active insubordination … born out of loyalty to the country.”
“This is not sustainable to have an executive branch where individuals are not following the orders of the chief executive,” he said. “I do think things will get worse before they get better. I don’t know how Donald Trump is going to react to this. A wounded lion is a very dangerous animal, and I think Donald Trump is wounded.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D, IL) said Wednesday that he found the Times author’s claims to be believable.
Denials
Both Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quickly denied being the author of the Times piece.
Pompeo said, “It’s not mine.” He then accused the Times of trying to undermine the president, which he found “incredibly disturbing.”
