US Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, has denied a report that he discussed invoking a constitutional clause to oust President Donald Trump.
America’s second most senior law official said the allegation was “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, also said Mr. Rosenstein had suggested secretly recording Mr. Trump to expose chaos in the White House.
But a source told the BBC that the comment was sarcastic.
Mr. Rosenstein is reported to have made the remarks after Mr. Trump fired the FBI director last year.
James Comey had been overseeing his law enforcement agency’s investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Mr. Trump referred to the “Russia thing” when asked why he was removed.
Mr. Trump told a rally in Missouri on Friday evening that there was a “lingering stench” about what was being exposed at the US Justice Department.
He said he would get rid of it just as his administration “had gotten rid of bad people at the FBI.”
The New York Times reported that Mr. Rosenstein had discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment of the US constitution, which provides for the removal of a president if he is deemed unfit for office.
It also says he suggested secretly recording Mr. Trump to expose White House turmoil and dysfunction.
The suggestions came during meetings and conversations in May 2017 with Department of Justice and FBI officials, the paper said.
It cited several unnamed sources who were briefed on the events.
According to US media, the source of the allegations are memos created by former FBI acting director, Andrew McCabe, who was fired by Mr. Trump in March this year.
Mr. McCabe’s lawyer, Michael Bromwich, said his client “has no knowledge of how any member of the media obtained those memos.”
Mr. Bromwich said the memos had been submitted to the special counsel who is investigating possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election and obstruction of justice, and that another copy had remained with the FBI.
The deputy attorney general issued a statement saying: “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.
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“But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th amendment.”
‘Hezbollah treasurer’ Barakat arrested in Brazil border city
Police in Brazil have arrested a man accused by the United States of being one of the main financial operators of the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah.
Assad Ahmad Barakat was detained near the border with Paraguay and Argentina.
He is wanted for identity theft in Paraguay, where he previously served six years in prison for tax evasion.
The police in Argentina have accused Barakat of laundering $10m (£7.6m) on behalf of Hezbollah at a casino in the Iguazu Falls area.
Barakat, a Lebanese national, was detained in the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu.
The US has long expressed concern about Islamist activities among the sizeable Arab community in region, known as the Triple Frontier.
The area attracts tourists from all over the world, who travel to see the waterfalls and the luxuriant tropical forest.
But the area also has a reputation as a centre for large-scale smuggling and drug trafficking.
In 2006, the US Treasury Department described Barakat as a “global terrorist” and included his name on a list of people in the Triple Frontier area who helped finance Hezbollah.
He was one of nine people and two companies who had his assets frozen.
“Assad Ahmad Barakat’s network in the Tri-Border Area is a major financial artery to Hezbollah in Lebanon,” said Adam Szubin, who was then director of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Brazilian Federal Police said in a statement that he had continued to operate in Argentina, Brazil and Chile after his release from prison in Paraguay in 2008.
It is not clear whether he is going to be extradited to Paraguay or will face charges in Brazil.
