Miles Taylor, the former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff who stepped forward in August to blast President Donald Trump's leadership, said Wednesday he's "Anonymous," the senior administration official who wrote a scathing op-ed and book about the Trump White House.
In a post on Medium entitled "Why I'm no longer Anonymous," Taylor said he wrote the op-ed as a way to get the White House to focus on what he was saying about the danger he thought Trump posed to the country, instead of focusing on him.
"The decision wasn’t easy, I wrestled with it, and I understand why some people consider it questionable to levy such serious charges against a sitting president under the cover of anonymity. But my reasoning was straightforward, and I stand by it," Taylor wrote. "Issuing my critiques without attribution forced the President to answer them directly on their merits or not at all, rather than creating distractions through petty insults and name-calling."
In the original New York Times op-ed, Taylor wrote that "many of the senior officials in his own administration" were working against Trump from within "to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."
"We will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it's over," the unnamed author wrote. "We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won't."
Trump accused the writer of treason and demanded that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions find out the identity of the writer.
Taylor denied he was Anonymous in an interview with CNN in August.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “This low-level, disgruntled former staffer is a liar and a coward who chose anonymity over action and leaking over leading. He was ineffective and incompetent during his time as DHS Chief of Staff which is why he was promptly fired after only serving in this role for a matter of weeks. It is appalling a low-ranking official would be granted anonymity and it is clear the New York Times is doing the bidding of Never-Trumpers and Democrats."
This story was originally published on NBCNews.com.