Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump insisted that a 2016 meeting in Trump Tower was about adoption policy -- after knowledge of the confab became public -- even though it was likely that reporters had evidence it was set to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton, a new book on his presidency says.

The book by Michael Wolff has come under fire by the White House, which has dismissed it as "complete fantasy," and quotes in the book attributed to former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon have led to Trump unloading on the former top aide.

CNN obtained a copy of the book, and in one section, Wolff writes that Trump insisted on an incorrect narrative of what happened in a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York that Donald Trump Jr., then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had with a Russian lawyer and several others.

Wolff writes, "The President insisted that the meeting in Trump Tower was purely and simply about Russian adoption policy. That's what was discussed, period. Period. Even though it was likely, if not certain, that the Times had the incriminating email chain -- in fact, it was quite possible that Jared and Ivanka and the lawyers knew the Times had this email chain -- the president ordered that no one should let on to the more problematic discussion about Hillary Clinton."

CNN has not independently confirmed Wolff's assertions.

Read More