Gary Cohn, the former top economic adviser to President Trump, on Tuesday said portrayals of him in veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s new book are inaccurate, though he didn’t say what specific accounts were incorrect.
“This book does not accurately portray my experience at the White House,” Cohn said in a statement to Axios. “I am proud of my service in the Trump Administration, and I continue to support the President and his economic agenda.”
{mosads}In the book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” Woodward reports that Cohn twice pulled paperwork off of Trump’s desk that he was intending to sign to withdraw the United States from trade agreements.
Cohn reportedly took a letter from Trump’s desk that would have withdrawn the U.S. from a trade agreement with South Korea and separately took another letter off the president’s desk in spring 2017 that would have withdrawn the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to the book.
Trump and the White House have vehemently pushed back against the accounts in the book since excerpts were first published by The Washington Post last week, including the reports of Cohn removing papers from Trump’s desk.
Vice President Pence said on “Fox News Sunday” that he doesn’t believe that Cohn ever pulled letters from Trump’s desk.
“I have every doubt that that happened. I really do,” Pence said.
The book hit shelves on Tuesday. In it, Woodward paints a portrait of a disorganized, paranoia-ridden administration filled with staffers trying to stop what they see as Trump’s worst instincts.
The publisher, Simon & Schuster, has reportedly printed 1 million copies in the face of growing demand.