New tell-all book depicts ‘out of control’ Trump White House staff

WASHINGTON: 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 obtained advance copies or excerpts of the 384-page book by Sims, who worked on Trump’s campaign before joining the White House as Director of Message Strategy.

According to the Post, the candid 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, and Sims does not spare himself from criticism, confessing to being “selfish” and “nakedly ambitious.”

“It’s impossible to deny how absolutely out of control the White House staff — again, myself included — was at times,” Sims writes.

At the same time as the president cultivated chaos among his advisers, Sims writes that “it’s dang near impossible to spend one-on-one time with Donald Trump and not end up liking him.”

According to The New York Times, Sims received a seven-figure advance for the book from the publisher, Thomas Dunne Books.