KEY POINTS
  • "Just run the presses — print money," Trump said, according to Woodward, during a discussion on the national debt with Gary Cohn, former director of the White House National Economic Council.
  • Cohn was "astounded at Trump's lack of basic understanding," Woodward writes.
  • Cohn pushed back on the book's claims Tuesday, while Trump has repeatedly called the book a "scam."
White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, right, talks to President Donald Trump, left, prior to a working session at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017.

As a candidate, Donald Trump pledged to balance the federal budget and lower the national debt, promises that are proving difficult to keep.

Once he won, Trump considered an unusual approach that was quickly slapped down by his chief economic advisor, according to veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," which went on sale Tuesday.