Former White House aide Cliff Sims is suing Trump

A former White House aide who penned an insider account about President Trump is now suing the president after Trump's lawyers filed an arbitration claim saying the book violated a nondisclosure agreement.

But Sims did sign an NDA for his work on the Trump campaign.

"Mr. Sims was a White House aide from the beginning of the administration".

Sims is suing Trump in his official capacity.

Michael Glassner, who leads the Trump campaign, did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.

"Upon information and belief", the suit claims, "President Trump is directing, authorizing and/or otherwise approving substantive decisions of the Trump Campaign that are governmental in nature and for the purposes of concealing [Trump's] involvement in order to silence Mr. Sims in a manner that would otherwise be unavailable under existing First Amendment case law".

Sims is the first former White House staffer to file such a federal suit. He signed a nondisclosure agreement. "He is a mess!"

The campaign is claiming that Sims violated a non-disclosure agreement, but Sims is reportedly not entirely sure he signed an NDA at all. In the following days, the Trump campaign announced that it had begun arbitration proceedings against Sims.

The lawsuit says Trump "is seeking to impose civil liability against Mr. Sims through application of NDAs that apply to information Mr. Sims learned exclusively during his federal service".

Mark Zaid, Sims' attorney, argues in the lawsuit, "The U.S. Government is intentionally and unconstitutionally engaging in a subterfuge effort to use a private entity, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., to do its bidding to silence Mr. Sims when it is really the intense powers of the Presidency coming down upon a sole individual".