PoliticoDonald Trump ‘hopping mad’ at former White House aide’s tell-all book ‘Team of Vipers’
- US President Donald Trump is dismissing Cliff Sims as ‘the videographer’ as former colleagues see the ‘Team of Vipers’ author as a traitor
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Daniel Lippman on politico.com on January 28, 2019.
US President Donald Trump is “very p***ed off” and “really hopping mad” at former aide Cliff Sims’ new book that reveals first-hand the chaos and infighting that is ever present in his White House, according to several current and former White House officials.
Trump is asking aides: “Who is this guy? Why is he writing this book? He wasn’t even in meetings,” the sources said.
He also dismissively refers to Sims – who served until last May as director of White House message strategy and a special assistant to the president – as “the videographer” because he also helped Trump with the weekly video and radio addresses, according to three current and former White House officials.
Sims’ tell-all book, Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House, will be published Tuesday.
One former senior White House said Sims has managed to do the impossible: unite an infamously fractious world of Trump advisers and associates.