Rod Rosenstein, the US deputy attorney general, has denied that he discussed invoking a consitutional clause to oust President Donald Trump. The allegation is "inaccurate and factually incorrect," he said.
A report by the New York Times said that Rosenstein had suggested secretly recording Trump to expose chaos in the White House. But a report in the BBC clarifies that the deputy attorney general was being sarcastic when he made the comment.
The comments were made in 2017 after the firing of FBI director James Comey, who had been leading the investigation into the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Accoding to the New York Times report, Rosenstein had discussed getting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment of the US constitution, which provides for the removal of the president if he is found to be unfit for office.
The sources were cited as people who were briefed on the events themselves or on memos written by FBI officials including Andrew McCabe, who became acting director when Comey was dismissed.
The proposals did not come to fruition, the Times said. The Washington Post also reported the discussions, citing memos written by McCabe.
McCabe has no knowledge of how the memos were made available, said his lawyer Michael Bromwich.
Rosenstein has blamed anonymous sources promoting personal agendas. The White House is yet to react to the reports.
Trump told a rally at Missouri for for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Hawley, “Just look at what is being exposed in our Justice Department.”
"We have great people in the Department of Justice. ... But you’ve got some real bad ones. You’ve seen what’s happened at the FBI. They’re all gone,” he said. “But there’s a lingering stench and we’re going to get rid of that, too.”
A Justice Department spokeswoman provided a statement from a person who would not be identified and was present when Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire to record Trump, the Times said. The person said Rosenstein made the remark sarcastically.
