An upcoming book portrays a White House staff under President Donald Trump that was “absolutely out of control” at times and often at each other’s throats, according to excerpts published on Tuesday.
Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House , which goes on sale next week, was written by Cliff Sims, who served as a special assistant to the 45th President.
The Washington Post , National Public Radio and Axios published excerpts from the 384-page book by Mr. Sims, who worked on Mr. Trump’s campaign before joining the White House as Director of Message Strategy.
According to the Post , the book features “expletive-filled scenes of chaos, dysfunction and duplicity among the President, his family members and administration officials.”
The book is “neither a sycophantic portrayal of the President nor a blistering account written to settle scores,” the Post said.
Enemies list
“It’s impossible to deny how absolutely out of control the White House staff — again, myself included — was at times,” Mr. Sims writes, but he says “it’s dang near impossible to spend one-on-one time with Donald Trump and not end up liking him.”
Mr. Trump was deeply suspicious of his own staff, Mr. Sims writes, and he once helped the President and his longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller draw up an “enemies list.” “We’re going to get rid of all the snakes, even the bottom-feeders,” Mr. Trump told them.
