Alabama native Cliff Sims said that the continuing leaks of President Donald Trump’s private schedule are “a direct shot” at the president, adding that the “insubordinate” “sociopaths” on the White House staff intentionally undermining Trump’s administration from the inside should resign.

In an interview Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with Brian Stelter, Sims discussed why Trump’s staff is so “leaky” and explained that the nature of the leaks have evolved over time.

He also confirmed that the administration is conducting an internal probe into the leaks. Sims served Trump as the White House’s director of message strategy and a special assistant to the president until his resignation in May 2018.

“[I]’ve talked to some people in [the White House] about this, and I do think that it is real. There’s definitely a hunt going on for whoever this individual is. The IT department, as you referenced, is certainly involved,” Sims told the host.

He then advised that he believes it is “a real long-shot” that the leaker will actually be caught through this internal probe.

“But the thing that strikes me about it is just the sheer effort that went into this,” Sims added. “I received these schedules every morning when I worked in the White House, and to leak three months of them – it’s not like there’s a document all packaged up and ready for you to just show to somebody. You would have to go back through weeks and weeks and weeks of emails to get these [and] obviously you can’t just email them out, so you kind of speculate on how they would even get those out – take pictures of their screen or whatever it may be.”

Stelter then asked if the administration was “less leaky” now than at the beginning of the Trump presidency.

“You know, that’s a great question. I think the leaks are different now,” Sims responded. “I think there was perhaps a little bit more of what I would call staff-on-staff violence back then.”

“But a leak like this, I mean I have to sit back, Brian, and ask myself, ‘Who are these sociopaths working in the White House?’” Sims said.

He continued, “I think about the psychology behind leaks like this, and often I think they are a direct reflection of the level of respect that an individual at the staff level has for whoever their superior is… This one seems to be a direct shot at the President of the United States. That is a level of insubordination that I think is rarely seen in corporate America, rarely seen in government and certainly rarely seen at this level.”

“This one seems to be a direct shot at the President of the United States. That is a level of insubordination that is … rarely seen at this level,” fmr. director of White House message strategy @Cliff_Sims says on Trump’s leaked “executive time” schedules https://t.co/8Ka4RmBORZ pic.twitter.com/13CMengEsq

— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) February 10, 2019

Shortly after Sims’ interview on CNN, Trump took to Twitter to express his own thoughts on the leaks of his schedule.

The media was able to get my work schedule, something very easy to do, but it should have been reported as a positive, not negative. When the term Executive Time is used, I am generally working, not relaxing. In fact, I probably work more hours than almost any past President…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 10, 2019

Hours later, Axios reported on new leaked schedules they just received – this time covering as recently as last week. The fresh leak happened as the White House internal leak probe is reportedly in full swing.

What a troll. Leaker showing a total aversion to the hunt to find him/her. It’s pure mayhem for the sake of mayhem. This is Maximus in the arena screaming, “Are you not entertained?!” Why not just quit? https://t.co/UVGuNfVcrp

— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) February 10, 2019

Sims is the founder and former CEO of Yellowhammer Multimedia. He sold the company after signing on to serve on the Trump campaign in 2016 and then in the White House.

Sims’ book on his 500 days serving on the president’s staff, Team of Vipers, is a New York Times and Amazon bestseller.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn