Pence: I'm confident no one on my staff wrote the 'NYT' column

US Vice-President Mike Pence says he's "100 per cent confident" that no one on his staff was involved with the anonymous New York Times column criticising President Donald Trump's leadership.

"I know them. I know their character," Pence said in a taped interview aired Sunday by CBS' Face the Nation.

Some pundits had speculated that Pence could be the "senior administration official" who wrote the opinion piece because it included language Pence has been known to use, like the unusual word 'lodestar'. The op-ed writer claimed to be part of a "resistance" movement within the Trump administration that was working quietly behind the scenes to thwart the president's most dangerous impulses.

Pence added his staff to the list of more than two dozen high-ranking administration officials who have denied writing the column.

"Let me be very clear. I'm 100 per cent confident that no one on the vice-president's staff was involved in this anonymous editorial. I know my people," Pence said on Face the Nation. ''They get up every day and are dedicated, just as much as I am, to advancing the president's agenda and supporting everything ... President Trump is doing for the people of this country."

Asked whether he had asked his staff about the op-ed, Pence said, "I don't have to ask them because I know them. I know their character. I know their dedication, and I am absolutely confident that no one on the vice-president's staff had anything to do with this."

He restated that he thinks the essay writer should do the "honourable thing and resign".

AP