The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday sent a letter to a publishing company asking information that would lead to the identity of a person who wrote an anonymous opinion piece last year. At the time the person claimed to be a "senior official" in the Trump administration that was "part of the resistance." That person has gone on to write a book with Hachette Book Group called "A Warning."
According to Joseph Hunt, the Assistant Attorney General who sent the letter, the DOJ would like to know whether or not the book's author may have violated nondisclosure agreements "that are routinely required" in order to obtain access to classified information.
The DOJ isn't asking for the author's name but wants the publishing company to provide the author’s employing agency as well as their dates of employment.
“If you cannot make those representations, we ask that you immediately provide either the nondisclosure agreements the author signed or the dates of the author’s service and the agencies where the author was employed, so that we may determine the terms of the author’s nondisclosure agreements and ensure that they have been followed," the letter said.
The Hachette Book Group has made it clear they will not comply with the request and they plan to protect the person's identity.
“Our author knows that the president is determined to unmask whistle-blowers who may be in his midst,” the agents’ firm, Javelin, told The New York Times.
According to the book's Amazon page, the anonymous official will provide readers with "an unprecedented behind-the-scenes portrait of the Trump presidency from the anonymous senior official whose first words of warning about the president rocked the nation's capital."
The book is said to be a continuation of the infamous OpEd that appeared in the New York Times. The book is set to be published on November 19th.
As of now, the only people, besides the publishers, who know the author's identity are opinion section editors at the Times.
Below is the full letter: