US Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein has rubbished claims made by a newspaper that he recruited Cabinet members to invoke a constitutional amendment to remove President Donald Trump from the White House.

Mr Rosenstein labelled the New York Times story "inaccurate and factually incorrect" in a statement that also blamed anonymous sources promoting personal agendas.

"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," he said.

"But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment."

Mr Rosenstein, the US official who oversees the federal investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 US election, also suggested secretly recording Mr Trump, the Times reported.

He made the suggestions in the spring of 2017 after Mr Trump fired FBI director James Comey, the newspaper said, citing its sources as people who were briefed on the events themselves or on memos written by FBI officials including Andrew McCabe, who became acting director when Mr Comey was dismissed.

The proposals did not come to fruition, the Times said. The Washington Post also reported the discussions, citing memos written by Mr McCabe.

Michael Bromwich, Mr McCabe's lawyer, said his client had no knowledge of how the memos were made available.

Rosenstein made remark 'sarcastically'

There was no immediate reaction to the reports from the White House and Mr Trump did not respond to shouted questions from reporters about whether he would fire Mr Rosenstein as he arrived in Springfield, Missouri, for a rally.

A Justice Department spokeswoman also provided a statement from a person who would not be identified and was present when Mr Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire to record Mr Trump, the Times said. The person said Mr Rosenstein made the remark sarcastically.

Mr Rosenstein initiated discussions about the US Constitution's 25th Amendment, the Times and Post reported. The amendment deals with presidential succession and disability and outlines how the Cabinet can decide whether a president can no longer do his or her job.

The Times said Mr Rosenstein told Justice Department and FBI officials the secret recordings could be used to expose the chaos of the administration after revelations that Mr Trump had asked Mr Comey to pledge loyalty to him and also divulged classified information to Russians in the Oval Office.

Mr Rosenstein has been a frequent punching bag for Trump supporters for appointing Special Counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017 to take over a federal probe of suspected Russian meddling in the US election and potential coordination between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

Mr Comey led the investigation until he was dismissed from the FBI.

Rosenstein caught off guard, felt used

The President, who regularly characterises the probe as a "witch hunt", has denied any collusion with Moscow, while Russia has denied interfering in the election.

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the US Senate, said in a statement the newspaper report should not be used as a pretext to fire Mr Rosenstein to install "an official who will allow the president to interfere with the special counsel's investigation".

After Mr Rosenstein wrote a memo critical of Mr Comey's handling of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's email investigation, Mr Trump used it as a basis for firing Mr Comey.

Mr Rosenstein had told people he was caught off guard and felt he had been used, according to the Times.

Mr Rosenstein told Mr McCabe, who was also later fired by Mr Trump, that he might be able to persuade Attorney-General Jeff Sessions and John Kelly, the former homeland security secretary and current White House chief of staff, to invoke the 25th Amendment, the Times said.

Mr Sessions, in March 2017, recused himself from the Russia matter, citing his service on the Trump campaign.

Reuters/AP