WASHINGTON — William B. Taylor, Jr., the top American diplomat in Kiev, had just testified in front of impeachment investigators when a more secretive figure in the Trump universe resurfaced.
On the same day that Mr. Taylor provided the most explicit account to date of Mr. Trump’s campaign to pressure Ukraine to publicize an investigation of his political rivals, a publisher announced that the anonymous author of an Op-Ed published last year in The New York Times describing an active resistance to Mr. Trump’s agenda inside his own administration had written a tell-all book.
Administration officials like Mr. Taylor were going on the record and risking the wrath of a vengeful president, and running up large legal bills, to issue a warning about the state of the nation. And so some of Mr. Trump’s critics questioned why this particular “senior administration official” was only able to share his or her stories under the unsatisfying banner of “anonymous.”
“We’re way past the point of being coy,” said Joe Klein, who himself wrote an anonymous novel, “Primary Colors,” inspired by President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. “You have decorated military officers getting death threats.”
“We need to stand up and be counted,” he said. “This is probably not the time for anonymity.”
The White House was quick to use the same rationale to dismiss the writer, whose book, titled “A Warning,” is due out Nov. 19. “It takes a lot of conviction and bravery to write a whole book anonymously,” said the press secretary, Stephanie Grisham.
But in interviews this week, the book’s editor and agent defended the use of anonymity, arguing it was the best means for the author to achieve his or her ambition: persuading Mr. Trump’s supporters to desert him in the 2020 election.
“The author’s goal is to try to reach that small but electorally significant percentage of Trump voters who might be persuaded not to support him again,” said Matt Latimer of Javelin, the writer’s agent. “This author knows the president, and knows how he likes to distract attention from a message by targeting and raising questions and conspiracy theories about the messenger.”
Mr. Latimer and his partner, Keith Urbahn, did not know who wrote the Op-Ed describing the “adults in the room” who were “trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.” But they contacted everyone they knew in the administration and on Capitol Hill, trying to find the author.
They were not the only ones stalking “Anonymous,” whose book will have a first printing of 500,000 copies. Mr. Trump, who accused the writer of committing “treason,” began an internal investigation at the White House, and at one point considered having West Wing staff members submit themselves to polygraph tests to find out the author’s identity.
This year, Mr. Latimer and Mr. Urbahn were invited to meet with a senior administration official at a private location. They did not know why until they got there.
“I am Anonymous,” the person told them.
What ensued was an unusual publishing process involving burner phones, secret meetings in makeshift secure rooms, nondisclosure agreements and an audiobook whose narrator was determined by a coin flip, since no one at the publishing house knew the author’s identity. (The book will be read by a man.)
The author wanted to stay anonymous, but was willing to go forward realizing being publicly outed was a risk.
“Our author is mindful that foreign intelligence agencies want to uncover their identity,” Mr. Urbahn said. “What better way for a foreign leader to curry favor than to offer up that long-elusive name in an Oval Office visit?”
For secrecy’s sake, Mr. Latimer and Mr. Urbahn purchased burner phones to set up a dummy iCloud account where the secret manuscript would live. They decided to approach just one publisher with the project and hope the unique nature of the book — in addition to the fact that the author would not take an advance, and planned to donate a portion of the royalties to nonprofits supporting government accountability — would be enough incentive to forge a quick deal.
Sean Desmond, publisher of the imprint Twelve, did not know the identity of the author when he arrived in Washington and Mr. Latimer took him to a conference room in a private building where he was asked to leave his cellphone outside the room. The writer sat inside.
“I’m very comfortable telling you that this person is a serious person and a good example of one of the adults in the room,” Mr. Desmond said in an interview. “If Anonymous were to be revealed or come out —- not that there’s a plan to do so — I have no worries whatsoever. I’m very proud to be publishing this person.”
Among the publisher and the two agents, the manuscript was referred to as the “December Project,” but the publication date was pushed to November after the House moved ahead with an impeachment inquiry. Pretending to be on his annual summer vacation, Mr. Desmond secretly worked on the book from the Javelin offices in Virginia.
“The author is aware that their identity may be revealed as a result of this book,” Mr. Latimer said. “Every precaution has been taken to mitigate this possibility, but it’s still a real one and we all know that.”