Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House

The first honest insider’s account of the Trump administration.



After standing at Donald Trump’s side on Election Night, Cliff Sims joined him in the West Wing as Special Assistant to the President and Director of White House Message Strategy. He soon found himself pulled into the President’s inner circle as a confidante, errand boy, advisor, punching bag, and friend - sometimes all in the same conversation. As a result, Sims gained unprecedented access to the President, sitting in on private meetings with key Congressional officials, world leaders, and top White House advisors. He saw how Trump handled the challenges of the office, and he learned from Trump himself how he saw the world. For five hundred days, Sims also witnessed first-hand the infighting and leaking, the anger, joy, and recriminations. He had a role in some of the President’s biggest successes, and he shared the blame for some of his administration’s worst disasters. He gained key, and often surprising, insights into the players of the Trump West Wing, from Kushner and Kelly to Bannon and Conway. He even helped Trump craft his enemies list. And he took notes. Hundreds of pages of notes. Sims now tells the story that no one else has written - because no one else could. The story of power and palace intrigue, backstabbing and bold victories, as well as painful moral compromises, occasionally with yourself. Team of Vipers tells the full story, as only a true insider could.