PROVEN: THERE REALLY WAS A COUP ATTEMPT AGAINST TRUMP

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein proposed secretly recording conversations in the Oval Office with President Trump last year and discussed the possibility of Cabinet officials invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, reported on Friday that Rosenstein made comments to other Justice Department officials in meetings in spring 2017 about secretly recording Trump after the president fired FBI Director James Comey.

Rosenstein reportedly made the comments to then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who detailed Rosenstein's comments in memos, according to the sources cited by the Times.

In the discussions, Rosenstein reportedly floated recruiting Cabinet secretaries, such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and White House chief of staff John Kelly behind an effort to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows members of a president's Cabinet to remove him by majority vote if he is deemed unfit for office.

A Justice Department spokeswoman provided a comment to the Times from a person who was present for the discussions, saying Rosenstein's remarks were meant to be taken as sarcasm.

Rosenstein issued a statement to the Times.

“The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” he said. “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,” he added.

A spokesman for McCabe, who was fired this year, declined to comment.

News of Rosenstein's alleged discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment follows the publication of an anonymous op-ed in the Times earlier this month detailing a "resistance" within the administration dedicated to "thwarting" the president's "worst inclinations."

The op-ed, which included claims that Cabinet officials had discussed the possibility of utilizing the method of removing the president, caused swift denials from dozens of Trump officials in the administration.

PROVEN: THERE REALLY WAS A COUP ATTEMPT AGAINST TRUMP

Rosenstein proposed secretly recording conversations with Trump, invoking 25th Amendment: NYT