CNN contributor Miles Taylor will remain with the network despite lying on the air about being the anonymous administration official who wrote a book condemning President Donald Trump.
A CNN spokesman said Wednesday that Taylor would stay on, the same day he identified himself as "Anonymous," the author of the book A Warning in 2019 and a New York Times op-ed in 2018. In both, he slammed Trump as tempestuous and unfit for office. Taylor also boasted in the op-ed he was one of the "senior officials" working to "frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."
Taylor was an aide to former homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen before resigning last year, and he joined CNN as a contributor in September. However, Taylor lied to anchor Anderson Cooper on Aug. 21 when he denied being "Anonymous."
"I wear a mask for two things, Anderson: Halloweens and pandemics, so no," he said.
'I wear a mask for two things, Anderson: Halloween and pandemics. So, no," says @MilesTaylorUSA, when asked by @AndersonCooper if he is the author of the op-ed book written by someone called Anonymous. pic.twitter.com/sPjs4OoAnp
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) August 21, 2020
Taylor is one of at least six Republican contributors at the network who are openly supporting the Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden. He cut an ad for Republican Voters Against Trump in August, calling the president "terrifying."
CNN's motto is "Facts First," and it cut an ad in 2017 called "This is an apple," where it warned that liars may repeatedly call an apple a banana.
"But it's not," the narrator says. "This is an apple."