Former White House aide Cliff Sims is suing Trump


President Trump is being sued by former White House communications aide Cliff Sims, author of a tell-all book about his time working in the Trump administration.
Last week, the Trump campaign filed an arbitration claim against the Team of Vipers author, saying he violated a nondisclosure agreement he signed while working for Trump during the 2016 presidential election. Sims has said he doesn't remember if he ever signed a nondisclosure agreement. In the lawsuit filed Monday, Sims' attorney says Trump is "seeking to impose civil liability against Mr. Sims through application of NDAs that apply to information Mr. Sims learned solely during his federal service."
The suit also accuses Trump of trying to enforce only certain NDAs; he went after former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, whose book about her time in the White House was less than flattering, but left Corey Lewandowski and Sean Spicer, whose books he liked, alone. Trump has called Sims a "low-level staffer" who "pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Taz Sarhane's mallard with pine nut sauce and boulangère potatoes
The Week Recommends Bold duck, crispy potatoes and silky pine-nut sauce come together in this earthy yet refined dish
-
Cambodian pork and rice recipe
The Week Recommends This street-food dish is traditionally eaten for breakfast, but makes a delicious dinner, too
-
Xiao Zintong: China's controversial snooker champion
In the Spotlight The 28-year-old was implicated in the sport's biggest match-fixing scandal before coming back from suspension to take the world title
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-
Trump blames Biden for tariffs-linked contraction
speed read The US economy shrank 0.3% in the first three months of 2025, the Commerce Department reported
-
Trump says he could bring back Ábrego García but won't
Speed Read At a rally to mark his 100th day in office, the president doubled down on his unpopular immigration and economic policies
-
Canada's Liberals, Carney win national election
Speed Read The party of Prime Minister Mark Carney beat Conservative Pierre Poilievre thanks in part to Trump's trade war