AMNA NAWAZ: In 2018, an anonymous Trump administration official delivered a stark warning about the threat he said Donald Trump posed with his -- quote -- "erratic behavior."

It sent shockwaves through Washington and drew the ire of the president.

The author of that was later revealed to be Miles Taylor, the chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security.

When President Trump reentered the White House earlier this year, he said Taylor's actions could be treasonous and signed an executive order for DHS and other government agencies to launch an investigation.

This week, Taylor and his legal team formally asked the inspectors general at the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate the order.

Miles Taylor joins me now.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being here.

MILES TAYLOR, Former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff: Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, before we get into the actions you're taking right now, I just want to put to you what the executive order from the president said.

In revoking your security clearance, he claimed that you abandoned your sacred oath by disclosing sensitive information, accused you of potentially committing treason, and then ordered those agencies to investigate you.

I just want to get your response to those allegations.

MILES TAYLOR: Well, I think it's important to state the obvious about that, which is, in the United States of America, criticism of a president is not classified.

Criticism is not classified.

And I think what's so jarring about that order is, I have come to think I know what the limits of Donald Trump are, but the language of that order, to me, was so Orwellian in its nature to even shock, I think, the conscience of other folks, that he would start to claim that personal criticism is a national security threat, and not just claim that in a press release or on TRUTH Social, but to launch a formal federal review to punish someone that had criticized him.

That is concerning to me, but also I would say there's a deep irony in who is making that allegation.

I know with certainty I have never shared classified information outside of the appropriate channels, but I also know that the person making this allegation against me was alleged to have left the White House with stacks of classified documents.

And so in some ways we sort of see this as a projection, is, the president was pursued for unlawfully removing classified information after he was -- he'd left office the first time.

And now he wants to say, well, his critics have done the same.

And I think that's part of the reason why he's trying to anchor this order in some sort of spurious claim of sensitive information.

AMNA NAWAZ: That executive order was issued on April 9.

Why speak out now?

MILES TAYLOR: Well, it's a good question.

I mean, there's been a lot of time since then, and that's sort of the time that it takes as a family to think through, do we want to do this?

And I will be very brutally honest about it is, a lot of folks in your life, well-intentioned people will come to you, friends and family, and say, look, it's wrong that he did this.

It's clear he's doing this to punish you for First Amendment-protected speech.

But if you speak out, if you push back, if you try to take legal action against them, they're just going to come at you harder.

They're going to hit you harder, so don't do it.

Lay low and maybe it'll blow over.

And I would be... AMNA NAWAZ: People gave you that advice?

MILES TAYLOR: Well, and I'd be lying if I said that my wife and I didn't think about that.

But, honestly, it came back around to a very simple answer for us.

This is just wrong.

We think this is wrong for a president of the United States to be able to, with the stroke of a pen, blow up someone's life, defame them, and get away with it, and then do it to other people.

And that's our worry, is, if we just cowered, if we stay quiet, this is going to happen to more people.

This is bigger than me and my family.

This is an attack on free speech.

And there's no limit to it if we don't push back.

AMNA NAWAZ: There's a number of people the president has targeted individually and who have in response then sued the president.

We know there's, by an Associated Press count, some, like, 200 lawsuits just challenging his executive orders.

You went a different route here, as we reported.

You went to the inspectors general at two agencies that said, we want you to look into this.

Why that route?

Why not sue?

MILES TAYLOR: Maybe I'm naive, because, in normal times, this would be an avenue that would be available to someone who blew the whistle.

And I suppose we want to test whether that guardrail is still there.

These inspectors general, these watchdogs exist in departments and agencies for a reason, to make sure not only that those agencies don't commit waste, fraud, and abuse, but that they don't violate the constitutional rights of Americans.

And so our hope is that, as a first step, those inspectors general will see if there are officials within the Trump administration actually willing to carry out what is so obviously an unconstitutional order on its face, to go punish a critic for First Amendment-protected speech.

And if that doesn't work, if the I.G.s don't rise to the challenge, if they are afraid of the president, then we will look at other options.

AMNA NAWAZ: We have seen the president already go after more than a dozen I.G.s in his first week of office, not in these two agencies where you have asked them to investigate.

Do you have confidence in that system?

MILES TAYLOR: I don't know.

I don't have any reason to believe that those specific individuals in those offices won't do the right thing.

But there's a lot of fear right now.

There's an extraordinary amount of fear.

And if they don't take up this case, which, in any other administration, I think would be such an obvious act of corruption, then it does tell us something, that one of those last remaining guardrails of accountability may now be gone.

AMNA NAWAZ: You wrote in your letter to the I.G.

too -- or your lawyer did, rather -- that the memorandum, referring to the executive order, that its personal and financial toll on Mr. Taylor cannot be understated.

You mentioned it was a tough decision for you and your wife.

You have a young daughter at home too.

Why was it so tough?

MILES TAYLOR: I mean, it could be embarrassing to come out and talk about those things.

And that's why a lot of people in a situation like this would prefer not to talk about it.

But I think it's important to say, when something like this happens, it's not just a press release.

It's not just a piece of paper.

It has a real financial and personal toll on people.

I mean, as soon as this happened, I'm the sole income earner in my household.

My wife has stayed home with our baby.

And we realized she would have to go back to work because I wouldn't be able to stay in my job while being on this blacklist.

And the first question she asked me was, "Honey, are we going to be able to keep our home?"

Because we know how much lawyers cost.

And we're really lucky in our case.

I mean, we had an organization called Whistleblower Aid come forward.

They launched a legal defense fund called endpresidentialrevenge.org.

And we're very grateful for them.

We're very grateful for the people who've helped us crowdsource our defense.

My worry, though, is the 30th person this happens to and the 50th.

If the White House starts to use this the way they attack law firms and media organizations and universities, those people might not have the resources.

They might not have the ability and the support network.

And that's what we want to try to help build, is to make sure that, if other people end up in this situation, they have the protection that they need.

AMNA NAWAZ: You worked for this president in his first term, right?

And you wrote in that anonymous 2018 op-ed that he was antidemocratic, he was adversarial, petty, and ineffective.

And he was duly reelected in 2024.

Polls now show the majority of Americans don't believe that democracy is under attack.

So why do you believe that most Americans don't see what you say that you see?

MILES TAYLOR: Well, I think, until it affects you personally, it's really, really easy to justify looking the other way.

And I will give you a very personal example, is, there are very close friends and family members that have watched us go through what we have gone through over the past few years in trying to speak the truth about this president, and even some of them have come to us and said, hey, listen, maybe you should keep a lower profile because they don't want to get pulled into the crosshairs.

There's this very built in self-interest of folks to try to look the other way because they don't want to get hit by this.

But once you do, once you're affected, it's tough to turn back.

I mean, I'm sure, a few weeks ago, the board of trustees at Harvard had no interest in going to war legally with the president of the United States.

But now the existence of that institution is being tested, and they're forced into it.

So I think Americans will wake up the bigger impact this has on their lives.

But the hope is that we can draw a line to keep that from happening, whether it's misaligned tariffs or whether it's retributive actions against the news organizations they watch every day.

Eventually, if this isn't stopped, it will start to affect every American.

But, by then, I think, in some ways, it's too late.

AMNA NAWAZ: We've only got about 30 seconds left, but I have to ask, do you ever regret writing that anonymous op-ed?

MILES TAYLOR: I don't regret writing the piece.

But I regret not unmasking myself even sooner, because any extra day, I think, would have been the opportunity to convince one more person, don't wear a mask, come out in your own name, own your words.

And I have been saying, I don't think Donald Trump is the biggest threat to free speech in this country.

Anonymity is and self-censorship is.

People should step forward and be unafraid, and it makes it easier to do what's right.

AMNA NAWAZ: Miles Taylor, thank you so much for being here.

We will continue to follow your case as it unfolds.

Appreciate it.

MILES TAYLOR: Thank you.