WASHINGTON \u2014 Victoria Coates, a top official on the National Security Council, is being reassigned amid fallout over the identity of the author of the inside-the-White House tell-all book by \u201cAnonymous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coates, who serves as national security adviser for the Middle East and North Africa,will be joining the Department of Energy as a senior adviser to Secretary Dan Brouillette, the NSC announced Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move comes amid renewed speculation about the author of the book, \u201cA Warning,\u201d and a New York Times essay that were deeply critical of President Donald Trump, written under the pen name \u201cAnonymous.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a senior administration official insisted the move had nothing to do with the speculation, saying top White House officials reject rumors that have circulated in recent weeks suggesting Coates is the author. The move, they said, has been in the works for several weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are enthusiastic about adding Dr. Coates to DoE, where her expertise on the Middle East and national security policy will be helpful,\u201d Brouillette said in a statement. \u201cShe will play an important role on our team.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile I\u2019m sad to lose an important member of our team, Victoria will be a big asset to Secretary Brouillette as he executes the president\u2019s energy security policy priorities,\u201d Robert C. O\u2019Brien, who leads the NSC, added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move also comes as the president has been working to rid the administration of those he deems insufficiently loyal in the wake of his acquittal on impeachment charges. Since then, Trump has ousted staffers at the National Security Council and State Department and pulled the nomination of a top Treasury Department pick who had overseen cases involving Trump\u2019s former aides as a U.S. attorney. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Trump has been bringing back longtime aides he believes he can trust as he heads into what is expected to be a bruising general election campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump this week renewed questions about the identity of \u201cAnonymous\u201d when he told reporters that he knew who it was. Asked whether he believes the person still works at the White House, Trump responded: \u201cWe know a lot. In fact, when I want to get something out to the press, I tell certain people. And it\u2019s amazing, it gets out there. But, so far, I\u2019m leaving it that way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley declined to say Wednesday why, if Trump knows the person\u2019s identity, they would still be working in his administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the book, published by the Hachette Book Group in November, the writer claims senior administration officials considered resigning as a group in 2018 in a \u201cmidnight self-massacre\u201d to protest Trump\u2019s conduct, but ultimately decided such an act would do more harm than good. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
But a senior administration official insisted the move had nothing to do with the speculation, saying top White House officials reject rumors that have circulated in recent weeks suggesting who is the author.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,15,68,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5165],"class_list":["post-18365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-management","category-leadership","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"C6QA4IT42JCJRAN2CUTKIPQW5A","arc_canonical_url":"\/management\/leadership\/2020\/02\/20\/amid-anonymous-fallout-nsc-adviser-reassigned\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n