''Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House'' is a book-length

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

written by former

Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...

Special Assistant to the President and Director of Message Strategy

Cliff Sims Clifton David Sims is an American entrepreneur, author and former senior White House and United States Intelligence Community official. He served as Special Assistant to the President and Director of White House Message Strategy, and later as Depu ...

who had previously operated the conservative Alabama news site

Yellowhammer News Yellowhammer News is an American conservative website that publishes news and political commentary pertaining to Alabama. It is owned by Yellowhammer Media. It was founded in 2011 by Alabama native Cliff Sims who left in January 2017 to work in Pr ...

. ''Team of Vipers'' was released on January 29, 2019. Sims worked on Trump's presidential campaign and then in the White House communications office from January 2017 to May 2018. The White House said Sims was fired, while he said he left to find a work in "a really strong team environment". On January 29, 2019, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

tweeted that the book is "boring" and "fiction" and that Sims was a "low level staffer" who "pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer". Trump's campaign committee announced that same day that it was planning to sue Sims for violating a

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract or part of a contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish ...

. The Trump White House routinely required staff to sign non-disclosure agreements, though Sims said he did not remember whether he signed one. Legal observers said that Sims' experiences while a federal employee could not be covered by a non-disclosure agreement. In February 2019, Sims filed a civil suit against Trump in his official capacity as president for allegedly attempting to enforce a nondisclosure agreement that Sims may have signed upon joining the Trump administration. Sims contends his book contained only information he gained as an employee of the federal government and hence any nondisclosure agreement is unenforceable and violates his

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

rights. After a short legal dispute, Trump realized that the book actually put him in a positive light while criticizing senior staff. As a result. the suits were dropped and Sims has remained a close ally to the Trump family. In August 2020, it was reported by several outlets that Cliff Sims was once again working for the Trump administration, performing speechwriting duties for the 2020 Republican National Convention. In October 2020, it was reported that he had rejoined the Trump administration as a senior adviser to the director of national intelligence.

References

2019 non-fiction books American memoirs Books about the Trump administration English-language books Thomas Dunne Books books {{Trump media