White House counselor Kellyanne Conway Kellyanne Elizabeth ConwayTrump officials ramp up calls to probe op-ed author's identity Conway: Leaks have gotten 'much better' Conway: It would be legitimate to investigate op-ed author for 'criminal activity' MORE on Sunday supported President Trump Donald John TrumpTrump officials to announce closure of Palestinian Liberation Organization office in DC: report Alibaba's Jack Ma to step down as chairman in 2019 Trump expected to soon declassify Carter Page, Bruce Ohr documents: report MORE's suggestion that the Department of Justice look into possible "criminal activity" by the author of the anonymous New York Times op-ed that claimed some administration officials are working to block parts of Trump's agenda. 
 
 "There can be an investigation if there is criminal activity, perhaps," Conway said on CNN's "State of the Union." 
 
 Kellyanne Conway calls the anonymous author of New York Times op-ed “pathetic,” and says that President Trump doesn’t want “this person” in sensitive meetings about national security #CNNSOTU https://t.co/2J4aVbIYaA pic.twitter.com/MHlg2oRpwC — CNN (@CNN) September 9, 2018 
 
 When CNN's Jake Tapper replied that the op-ed contains no mention of "criminal" behavior, Conway insisted, "I don’t know that. I don’t think you know that." 
 
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 "Anybody who would do this, you don’t know what else they’re saying," she said. 
 
 "I have literally no idea, nor do you, what else this person has divulged," Conway said. "Let's not look at the four corners of the op-ed or the four corners of someone’s book to say, 'This is everything we know.' " 
 
 Trump last week called for the Justice Department to investigate the anonymous author, accusing them of "treason" against the country. 
 
 The Times op-ed published this week, attributed to a "senior administration official" at the request of the author, described a group of individuals in the White House seeking to thwart the president's "worst inclinations." 
 
 The op-ed's release was followed by a slew of denials by top Washington officials, including Vice President Pence and White House chief of staff John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE. 
 
 Conway during the CNN interview said the author should resign and come forward, suggesting they might be involved in national security issues. 
 
 "[Trump] doesn’t want this person in a meeting where he’s discussing China, Russia," Conway said. "That raises true concerns, if it’s somebody who has access to information." 
 
 She added that she believes the author will "suss him or herself out." 
 
 "Cowards are like criminals," she said. "Eventually, they confess to the wrong person — 'Shh, it was me but don’t tell anyone.' " ||||| Vice President Pence lambasted Barack Obama's return to the campaign trail in an interview with "Fox News Sunday," telling host Chris Wallace that the former president's rhetoric was a "very disappointing" attempt to paper over a legacy pockmarked by major tax increases and a massive hike in the national debt. 
 
 "It was very disappointing to see President Obama break with the tradition of former presidents, and become so political, and roll out the same tired arguments that he and liberals have made over the last eight years," Pence said. 
 
 "We inherited an economy that was growing a little bit more than 1 percent," the vice president continued. "In the last quarter, our economy is growing at 4.2 percent. Four million new jobs, unemployment at a 50-year low. And to have President Obama come out and tout his policies that resulted in less than 2 percent growth -- which saw tax increases, ObamaCare regulation, and a doubling of the national debt -- I think was -- it was very disappointing." 
 
 GDP REPORT SHOWS 'AMAZING' NATIONAL GROWTH 
 
 Pence also unloaded on what he called the "un-American" anonymous author of a New York Times Op-Ed last week, and vowed that he would take a lie-detector test to prove he did not write it. 
 
 "I would agree to take it in a heartbeat and would submit to any review the administration wanted to do," Pence said. As for whether other officials should be forced to take a polygraph, Pence demurred, saying that's up to the president. 
 
 The Op-Ed, purportedly penned by a "senior administration official," depicts a White House on the fritz and claims that top-level bureaucrats are actively working to undermine parts of President Trump's agenda. 
 
 "If they are that senior administration official -- they're violating an oath, not to the president, but to the Constitution," Pence said, adding that President Trump was concerned about the national security implications of the situation as well. "Look, it's un-American. And I think that's why you've seen Republicans and Democrats condemn this." 
 
 JUDITH MILLER: NYT WAS RIGHT TO PUBLISH ANONYMOUS OP-ED 
 
 Pence continued: "To have someone who literally celebrates coming in every day to frustrate the agenda that the president and I were elected to advance -- it really is an assault on our democracy. And it should be universally condemned." 
 
 "It really is an assault on our democracy. And it should be universally condemned." - Vice President Mike Pence on NYT Op-Ed 
 
 The Op-Ed conspicuously used the term "lodestar," which Pence has been known to employ in speeches. Asked by Wallace whether that appeared to be an attempt to frame him, Pence responded, "I wouldn't know," but added that the whole brouhaha was an attempt to "distract attention from this booming economy and from the president's record of success." 
 
 The vice president then disputed a particularly incendiary claim in Bob Woodward's new book “Fear: Trump in the White House" that then-chief White House economic adviser Gary Cohn removed a document from President Trump's desk that would have withdrawn the U.S. from the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). The book makes a similar claim about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which is also being renegotiated. 
 
 ANALYSIS: WOODWARD BOOK, NYT OP-ED, KAVANAUGH HEARINGS SHOW DEEP-STATE DESPERATION 
 
 "I have every doubt that happened," Pence said, even after Wallace pointed out that Woodward had produced the specific document in question. "I really do. ... The President renegotiated the South Korean free trade agreement in a way that put American jobs and American workers first." 
 
 The two countries are planning to sign a re-negotiated free deal in New York in late September. The new KORUS will offer greater benefits to American pharmaceutical and car companies in a variety of ways, including by doubling the cap on the number of cars Korea will import that meet U.S. environmental safety standards, as well as by including American-made drugs in the country's national health care reimbursement plan. 
 
 Despite the one-two punch of the Woodward book and the Times Op-Ed, Pence said Americans should focus on results as the midterms approach. 
 
 "Sometimes I watch a little bit of TV in the morning, and then I go to the White House, and I feel like I’m in a parallel universe," the vice president said. "I walk into a White House where there’s a President behind the desk; he’s in command. He's constantly driving forward on delivering on the promises that we made for the American people. And then I go home at night and I see cable TV talking about all of this stuff about disarray in the White House, and it's just not my experience. 
 
 OPINION: NYT OP-ED WRITER BELONGS IN PRISON 
 
 "You look at the passage of historic tax cuts for businesses and individuals, and the way that jobs are coming back, and investment is coming back," Pence added. "The re-negotiation of trade deals, our allies contributing more to our common defense. All of that is happening because we have a president of almost boundless energy who comes in every day -- regardless of what's happening in the Washington media culture -- and says, 'What are we doing today to deliver for the American people?' And I think that's why I see such enthusiasm as I travel across the country. And that's why I believe the American people are going to vote to re-elect Republican majorities in the House and Senate this fall." ||||| The Times is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here. [Update: Our answers to some of those questions are published here.] 
 
 President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader. 
 
 It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall. 
 
 The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. 
 
 I would know. I am one of them. 
 
 To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous. ||||| Washington (CNN) Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview airing Sunday that he has not discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office. 
 
 "No. Never," Pence told CBS's "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan when asked if he'd had conversations about invoking the 25th Amendment, adding, "Why would we be, Margaret?" 
 
 Pence, in his rebuke of the claim, quickly pivoted to a speech former President Barack Obama delivered Friday that was seen as a pointed critique of Trump. 
 
 "I mean the truth of the matter is over the last eight years despite what we heard from President Obama on Friday, I mean this country was struggling ... it was the weakest economy since the Great Depression," Pence said. 
 
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– Think Vice President Pence penned the anonymous New York Times op-ed that set Washington on fire this week? Well, he's willing to take a lie-detector test: "I would agree to take it in a heartbeat and would submit to any review the administration wanted to do," he says on Fox News Sunday, per Fox News. He declined to say whether other officials should take polygraph tests, saying that's President Trump's decision, but he took aim at the op-ed author: "If they are that senior administration official—they're violating an oath, not to the president, but to the Constitution." Asked by host Margaret Brennan whether anyone in the West Wing had discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump, CNN reports that Pence said: "No. Never. Why would be we, Margaret?" For more on the op-ed and other flare-ups of the week: Call the cops? "There can be an investigation if there is criminal activity, perhaps," says Kellyanne Conway on CNN's State of the Union about the op-ed writer, per the Hill. "Anybody who would do this, you don’t know what else they’re saying. I have literally no idea, nor do you, what else this person has divulged."