Ex-White House Aide Sues Trump Over Tell-All Book

Former White House communication aide and author of "Team of Vipers" Cliff Sims is suing President Donald Trump.

Trump's campaign accused Sims last month of violating a nondisclosure agreement by publishing his book, Team of Vipers.

Sims' attorney, Mark S. Zaid, told MSNBC that federal employees have a First Amendment right to publish unclassified material and that his client's book did not have anything that was classified. Sims argues he learned the information only through his time as a federal employee.

The Times reports that the lawsuit accuses Trump of using his campaign to punish him.

When Sims' book was released, Trump called Sims a "low-level staffer" and a "mess," after which Sims tweeted out pictures of himself and the president in the White House.

"He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer", Trump said in the tweet.

About 20 minutes later, Trump campaign chief operating officer Michael Glassner tweeted the campaign was "preparing to file suit against Cliff Sims".

"It's our understanding from sources that the president was consulted and instructed the campaign should proceed with the arbitration", Zaid said.

Sims's lawsuit notes it does not seek to stop those proceedings, which it states will be handled separately.

Sims notes in the lawsuit that he doesn't remember whether he signed a nondisclosure agreement when he began working for Trump and goes on to allege that the president sought "to impose civil liability against Sims through the application of NDAs that apply to information Mr. Sims learned exclusively during his federal service".

Trump has previously come under scrutiny for his use of NDAs to prevent current and former employees from speaking out against him. He said in the lawsuit that he does not recall if he also signed a non-disclosure agreement when he was hired to serve in the White House as a special assistant to the president.