Sims quietly dropped his lawsuit last year and although he painted a harshly negative portrait of many who served the president, his book was generally positive and admiring of Trump himself.

The White House said that Sims had been fired from his role; however, Sims refuted that claim and said he resigned to pursue a different job with the State Department.

Sims told George Stephanopoulos on \"Good Morning America\" in 2019, “In a tough environment, people usually come together, create this kind of bunk room mentality where it’s you against everyone else. That just didn’t happen in the White House. I thought there may be an opportunity to do that at [the] State [department].

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell said he found Sims was always loyal to the president.

“I relied on Cliff during my confirmation and I regularly sought his advice throughout my multiple roles in the Administration. I’ve always found him to be loyal to President Trump and a great strategist,\" said Grenell.

Other names familiar to Trump working behind the scenes on the convention include two former “Apprentice” producers, sources confirm to ABC News.

Sadoux Kim, a former employee of “Apprentice” creator Mark Burnett, is a lead consultant on the convention’s production and has been heading meetings leading up to this week, sources said. And Chuck LaBella, a ex-NBC entertainment executive who helped produce “The Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump,” is also on the convention payroll, according to FEC filings.

The news of Kim and Labella was first reported by The New York Times.

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