Trump calls for U.S. probe of NY Times after critical anonymous column

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday called on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the New York Times after the news outlet published a column this week by an anonymous administration official questioning his fitness for office.

Read About Ivanka Trump's Plotting To Return To The White House On THE DAILY

Trump also said he was weighing taking action against the Times, whose shares moved briefly lower after his comments were made public.

“We’re going to see. I’m looking at that right now,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions “should be investigating who the author of that piece was because I really believe it’s national security.”

Representatives of the Times and the Justice Department could not be reached immediately for comment.

A number of top Trump advisers have disavowed the piece, which was published on Wednesday without a name in what the Times said was a rare but necessary move to protect the writer.

In the column, the writer slammed Trump’s “amorality” and leadership style. The official said there were a number of U.S. officials who were part of an “quiet resistance” inside the administration who was “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Trott)