On 5 September 2018, a “senior administration official” dubbed “Anonymous” penned an op-ed in the NY Times. That person claimed to be part of the anti-Trump “resistance” in his administration, with emphasis on thwarting the President’s foreign policy, especially with respect to Russia.

The NY Times knows who “Anonymous” is, but so far that person has not yet been unmasked although there has been much speculation on candidates. For example, two days later, the Washington Post published a speculative article listing the pros and cons of 26 senior officials in the Trump Administration, including every cabinet-level official and even Melania Trump (!). Even the White House supposedly developed a list of 12 candidates at the time, as reported here. However, “Anonymous” has not been definitively outed yet although that person is now back in the news with a new book , entitled ‘A Warning.’

This is a speculative article based on recent research and analysis by a trusted friend (and dare I say an “understudy”), who posted this thread on Twitter just last night in synch with this article.

THREAD– Is Mary Kissel @marykissel the @NYTimes ‘Anonymous’ op ed author?

SMOKING GUN(s) below…

Pls RT!@kimguilfoyle @MZHemingway @ChuckRossDC @LarryOConnor @CBS_Herridge @JenGriffinFNC @BoSnerdley @SharylAttkisson @LouDobbs @jsolomonReports @mariabartiromo @hogangidley45

— Rear Echelon (@REMFtweets) December 20, 2019

Remember: “Anonymous” is likely still in place in a federal agency doing who knows what while undermining US foreign policy. We have watched two weeks of “career bureaucrats” testifying in the Schiff show and proclaiming how THEY think the President is off-base on his foreign policy decision-making regarding Russia and Ukraine while implying they and other unelected bureaucrats adhere to “inter-agency foreign policy consensus,” as opposed to the direction of the President. “Anonymous” would seem to be cut from the same cloth: arrogant and ascribing power to oneself that is in reality the responsibility of the President, as stated in the US Constitution. Like-minded bureaucrats have been undermining policies for decades and getting away with it. So even though “Anonymous” has been displaced by the impeachment farce and other stories over the past year, identifying and dealing properly with “Anonymous” remains on the to-do list.

Here is a top candidate. Mary Kissel joined the State Department as Secretary Mike Pompeo’s Strategic Communications Director on 1 October 2019. Previously, she had been a member of the editorial board at the Wall Street Journal. The Journal published a number of articles critical of candidate Trump’s “policies and temperament” in 2016 that are potentially linked to Kissel. Additionally, the Washington Examiner questioned why Secretary Pompeo had “hired a Never-Trump” in this article.

News broke on Tuesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had hired long-time “Never Trumper” and former Wall Street Journal editorial writer Mary Kissel as senior adviser for policy and strategic messaging. That’s right, a “Never Trumper” who vehemently opposed the policies Trump campaigned on is now advising Trump’s secretary of state on policy.

This should seem like an oxymoron, a strange coincidence, or an unbelievable stroke of luck on the part of Kissel. Sadly, for Trump supporters, it’s not.

Kissel would seem to be a good candidate. As a WSJ editorial writer, she was well-connected in the Trump Administration and able to collect intelligence from sources. She also doubtless knows the right people at the NY Times – former colleagues at a rival newspaper – in order to get her op-ed into print. However, the “Anonymous” op-ed was published on 5 Sep 2018, and she was not officially at the State Department until 1 October. That said, appointees commonly join the State Dept and then go through an extensive check-in process, including loads of training, before anything is publicly announced. It is entirely possible that Kissel was in the pipeline by 5 Sep, which, by the way, would give her plausible deniability if/when confronted about whether she was “Anonymous.” And she could claim to be a “senior official of the executive branch,” too.

As @REMFtweets noted in his Twitter thread, Kissel appeared to report to the State Department on the same day the “Anonymous” op-ed was published. Furthermore, she switched her personal Twitter account to “protected mode” that same day – 5 Sep! There are NO such things as coincidences, particularly in the political realm.

Here is another clue. In a subsequent article about Kissel, there is this quote from a seemingly random former Trump administration staffer:

“At this rate, I half-expect an Anonymous Op-Ed from a mole inside the Trump Administration who actually likes the President and is working secretly to implement the agenda he campaigned on,” Darren J. Beattie, a former aide who was ousted from the White House in August, said on Twitter this week, referencing both the scathing anonymous New York Times op-ed and his own dismissal…

Is this truth hiding in plain sight? If Darren Beattie knows who Kissel is, then there are certainly others in and around the Trump administration who know who “Anonymous” is.

Then there is this. “Anonymous” is on the Democrats’ quid pro quo team:

The anonymous senior White House official behind the book “A Warning” said on a forum that there is “no doubt in my mind” that Trump demanded quid pro quo from Ukraine “in order to disrupt the 2020 election.”

…

In a[n anonymous Reddit] thread, the author, dubbed “Anonymous,” not only said they were sure that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into a political opponent, but that “everyone in the White House, including the president himself,” understood that as well.

Additionally, it’s interesting to note that one of Kissel’s last tweets was, “John McCain R.I.P.,” which included a link to the WSJ editorial board honoring McCain at the time of his passing. And then just over a week later, the ‘Anonymous’ op ed appears in the NY Times, and it ends with a salute to John McCain. Just more coincidences?

Finally, former Trump campaign advisor (and CIA operative) Michael Caputo referred to ‘Anonymous’ as “she” while claiming to know her identity in this article. “Caputo said he believes the person is a woman.”

Conclusion: while the evidence is circumstantial, a case can definitely be made that Mary Kissel is “Anonymous.” She disagrees with the President on substance – policy – not the style and decorum issues that motivate many NeverTrumpers. Her known disagreements with Trump administration policies make me wonder BIGLY why Secretary Pompeo hired her in the first place. At the very least, someone needs to find out if she really is “Anonymous,” and if confirmed, ask her to take a walk.

The end.