Book by ex-staffer claims White House is 'out of control'

A book written by a former White House staffer has described back-stabbing and duplicity within the West Wing and claimed that it was "out of control".

"Team of Vipers", written by by Cliff Sims, a former communications staff member and a President Donald Trump loyalist who worked on his campaign, is slated to be published at the end of January, reports The New York Times.

Sims has written about White House inside stories like John Kelly, while was the White House Chief of Staff, presented himself as the man leading a charge of "country first, President second"; the attorney general suggested administering lie-detector tests to the small group of people with access to transcripts of the President's calls with foreign leaders; and Trump sought a list of "enemies" working in the White House communications shop.

Sims left the administration last year after clashing with Kelly.

"It's impossible to deny how absolutely out of control the White House staff - again, myself included - was at times," he wrote in his book.

According to Sims, Trump was unsettled by the condition of the West Wing, which he found dilapidated.

The President delighted in giving tours of the Oval Office, down to the private bathroom and the small study he converted to a dining room with a television on the wall. He explained in detail to aides how important the chyrons on television are, because so many people consume programs muted, according to the book.

The book however, does not always present the President in a negative light, The New York Times reported.

Its descriptions of Trump and the First Lady, Melania Trump, defy the public perception of their marriage.

But Sims does describe painfully awkward interactions with Paul D. Ryan, the former House Speaker, during efforts to repeal the health care law and after the Charlottesville white nationalist riots.

Feuds and chaos among the staff also occupy much of the book.

--IANS

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