Senior law chief accused of plotting against Trump

Reports claim deputy attorney general suggested invoking 25th Amendment to oust the president

Nick Allen

Rozina Sabur

DONALD TRUMP’S own deputy attorney general suggested secretly recording the president and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from the White House, according to US media.

Rod Rosenstein was said to have broached the idea that the president was unfit for office with senior officials at his own Justice Department and the FBI last year, The New York Times reported last night.

Mr Rosenstein reportedly said he believed he might be able to persuade John Kelly, Mr Trump’s chief of staff, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, to pursue the 25th Amendment, which can be invoked if the president is unable to fulfil his duties. It requires the support of the vice-president and a majority of the cabinet.

Mr Rosenstein said: “The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect. I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda.

“But let me be clear about this: based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.” The report was expected to spark accusations of a “deep-state” conspiracy against the president from his supporters, who believe he is being targeted by officials within his own Justice Department and the FBI.

Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son, said: “I’m shocked. These guys would do anything in their power to undermine him.”

Mr Rosenstein is overseeing the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into allegations of collusion between Mr Trump’s campaign and Russia, after Mr Sessions recused himself from the probe. Mr Rosenstein was said to have made his comments in the spring of 2017 around the time Mr Trump fired James Comey as head of the FBI.

He was also said to have suggested that FBI officials secretly record Mr Trump. His remarks were said to have been written down in memos.

A Justice Department spokesman said Mr Rosenstein had made a comment about wearing a wire when speaking to the president but it had been made sarcastically. Mr Trump did not immediately respond to the claims.

Meanwhile, the president last night questioned the credibility of the woman who has accused his Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault.

The president said she would have reported the attack to police at the time if it “was as bad as she says”.

Dr Christine Blasey Ford, a professor in California, has claimed Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than 30 years ago when they were teenagers, something he denies.