Trump Calls Author of Tell-All a 'Gofer'

Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House is a boring book. So says President Trump, who tweeted his displeasure with former White House aide Cliff Sims and his 384-page tell-all on Tuesday, the day of the book's release. "A low level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book based on made up stories and fiction," wrote Trump. "He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!" The COO of Trump's re-election campaign subsequently tweeted that it's "preparing to file suit against Cliff Sims for violating our NDA." Sims worked on the 2016 campaign and exited the White House in May, reports Politico.

• The Washington Post reports Trump posted his tweet as Sims was being interviewed on CNN. Upon the tweet being read out loud, Sims said, "Nice. There it is." He said he didn't recall whether he had signed an NDA.

• So what does the book claim? That Kellyanne Conway is a leaker, for one, something Sims said he learned due to the way her iMessages were set up, per Jezebel.
• Sims recounts John Kelly blasting his job as chief of staff as the "worst f---ing" one he's ever had. Sims writes that he overheard Trump telling Paul Ryan he "saved [the speaker's] a--" when "you were out there dying like a dog" in Wisconsin.
• But Jezebel notes Sims' portrayal of Melania Trump is an exceedingly positive one, with Sims repeatedly describing her as making moves to protect the president.
• Though Trump dismissed Sims as someone he hardly knew, Elaina Plott spoke with Sims for the Atlantic and paints an opposite picture: That the then-32-year-old joined the White House and ingratiated himself with Trump by doing things like keeping a travel-size bottle of Tresemmé Tres Two hair spray on him and talking to the president about normal stuff. "A level of ease and familiarity developed between the two, such that Trump wanted Sims in the room for meetings on a wide range of issues. ... in likely no other administration would such an obscure staffer see all that Cliff Sims did."

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