Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied Thursday being the author of a damning, anonymous op-ed in the New York Times about President Donald Trump, calling it "sad."
"It's not mine," Pompeo said in New Delhi.
"It shouldn't surprise anyone that The New York Times, a liberal newspaper that has attacked this administration relentlessly, chose to print such a piece," Pompeo told reporters.
"If it's accurate... they should not... have chosen to take a disgruntled, deceptive bad actor's word for anything and put it in their newspaper. It's sad more than anything else," he said.
He added: "I come from a place where if you're not in a position to execute the commander's intent, you have a singular option, that is to leave. And this person instead, according to the New York Times, chose not only to stay but to undermine what President Trump and this administration are trying to do.
"And I have to tell you, I just, I find the media's efforts in this regard to undermine this administration incredibly disturbing."
The opinion piece, whose author was described as a senior U.S. official, said that Trump's own staffers see him as a danger to the nation.
Trump has questioned whether the "gutless" piece, entitled "I am part of the resistance inside the Trump administration," might be treasonous.