Sen. Tom Cotton
Tom CottonGOP and Dems bitterly divided by immigration Grassley offers DACA fix tied to tough enforcement measures Five things senators should ask Tom Cotton if he’s nominated to lead the CIA MORE (R-Ark.) on Sunday took aim at the credibility of Michael Wolff, the author of the new bombshell book that paints President Trump
Donald John TrumpHouse Democrat slams Donald Trump Jr. for ‘serious case of amnesia’ after testimony Skier Lindsey Vonn: I don’t want to represent Trump at Olympics Poll: 4 in 10 Republicans think senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia MORE as an unstable leader leading a White House in chaos.
"This is a book by a New York gossip columnist who has been known to fabricate stories, who says in his own preface that looseness with the truth is an elemental thread of the book," Cotton said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Wolff said he conducted over 200 interviews for his new book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," in which "every" staffer described Trump as mentally unfit to lead and mentally unstable.
Wolff acknowledges in the book’s introduction that certain parts of the book reflect “a version of events I believe to be true" but that are sometimes based on conflicting accounts.
Cotton said this tell-all book is similar to other claims the media made when describing other Republican presidents.
"I can tell you this, the media made similar claims about [former presidents] Ronald Reagan and George Bush. What they all have in common is they are Republican presidents," the GOP senator told Stephanopoulos.
Cotton joined the White House in pushing back on the claims made in the book. Trump tweeted Sunday that he would handle the "Fake Book" the way Reagan handled similar situations.
Cotton described Trump as "active, engaged and effective," while touting what he views as the president's successful policies on immigration, health care, defense and the economy.
"When I have worked with the president and the people around him and Republican senators, he's been an active, engaged and effective leader on issues like repealing the individual mandate of ObamaCare, cutting taxes for working people, getting immigration under control, leading the fight against [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] and turning this economy around," he said.
"It's not just the growing economy, but it's also that this administration is getting unskilled and low-skilled immigration under control," he added.