None of Rosenstein's proposals apparently came to fruition. It is not clear how determined he was about seeing them through, though he did tell McCabe that he might be able to persuade Attorney-General Jeff Sessions and John Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security and now the White House chief of staff, to mount an effort to invoke the 25th Amendment. The extreme suggestions show Rosenstein's state of mind in the disorienting days that followed Comey's dismissal. Sitting in on Trump's interviews with prospective FBI directors and facing attacks for his own role in Comey's firing, Rosenstein had an up-close view of the tumult. Rosenstein appeared conflicted, regretful and emotional, according to people who spoke with him at the time. Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein suggested secretly recording President Donald Trump. Credit:AP Rosenstein disputed this account. "The New York Times' story is inaccurate and factually incorrect," he said in a statement. "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."

A Justice Department spokeswoman also provided a statement from a person who was present when Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire. The person, who would not be named, acknowledged the remark but said Rosenstein made it sarcastically. But according to the others who described his comments, Rosenstein not only confirmed that he was serious about the idea but also followed up by suggesting that other FBI officials who were interviewing to be the bureau's director could also secretly record Trump. Donald Trump's erratic behaviour is said to be the catalyst for Rod Rosenstein's extreme suggestion. Credit:AP McCabe, who was later fired from the FBI, declined to comment. His memos have been turned over to the special counsel investigating whether Trump associates conspired with Russia's election interference, Robert Mueller, according to a lawyer for McCabe. "A set of those memos remained at the FBI at the time of his departure in late January 2018," the lawyer, Michael R. Bromwich, said of his client. "He has no knowledge of how any member of the media obtained those memos."

Caught by surprise Days after ascending to the role of the nation's No. 2 law enforcement officer, Rosenstein was thrust into a crisis. Loading On a brisk May day, Rosenstein and his boss, Sessions, joined Trump in the Oval Office, where the President informed them of his plan to oust Comey. To the surprise of White House aides who were trying to talk the President out of it, Rosenstein embraced the idea, even offering to write the memo about the Clinton email inquiry. He turned it in shortly after.

A day later, Trump announced the firing, and White House aides released Rosenstein's memo, labelling it the basis for Comey's dismissal. Democrats sharply criticised Rosenstein, accusing him of helping to create a cover story for the president to rationalise the termination. "You wrote a memo you knew would be used to perpetuate a lie," Senator Christopher Murphy wrote on Twitter. "You own this debacle." The President's reliance on his memo caught Rosenstein by surprise, and he became angry at Trump, according to people who spoke to Rosenstein at the time. He grew concerned that his reputation had suffered harm and wondered whether Trump had motives beyond Comey's treatment of Clinton for ousting him, the people said. Loading A determined Rosenstein began telling associates that he would ultimately be "vindicated" for his role in the matter. One week after the firing, Rosenstein met with McCabe and at least four other senior Justice Department officials, in part to explain his role in the situation.

During their discussion, Rosenstein expressed frustration at how Trump had conducted the search for a new FBI director, saying the President was failing to take the candidate interviews seriously. A handful of politicians and law enforcement officials, including McCabe, were under consideration. To Rosenstein, the hiring process was emblematic of broader disfunction stemming from the White House. He said both the process and the administration itself were in disarray, according to two people familiar with the discussion. Rosenstein then raised the idea of wearing a recording device or "wire", as he put it, to secretly tape the President when he visited the White House. One participant asked whether Rosenstein was serious, and he replied animatedly that he was. If not him, then McCabe or other FBI officials interviewing with Trump for the job could perhaps wear a wire or otherwise record the President, Rosenstein offered. White House officials never checked his phone when he arrived for meetings there, Rosenstein added, implying it would be easy to secretly record Trump. Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein (right) reportedly said he could convince his boss, Attorney-General Jeff Sessions (left), to invoke the 25th Amendment. Credit:AP

The suggestion itself was remarkable. While informants or undercover agents regularly use concealed listening devices to surreptitiously gather evidence for federal investigators, they are typically targeting drug kingpins and Mafia bosses in criminal investigations, not a President viewed as ineffectively conducting his duties. In the end, the idea went nowhere, the officials said. But they called Rosenstein's comments an example of how erratically he was behaving while he was taking part in the interviews for a replacement FBI director, considering the appointment of a special counsel and otherwise running the day-to-day operations of the more than 100,000 people at the Justice Department. Rosenstein's suggestion about the 25th Amendment was similarly a sensitive topic. The amendment allows for the vice president and majority of Cabinet officials to declare the president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office". Loading Merely conducting a straw poll, even if Kelly and Sessions were on board, would be risky if another administration official were to tell the president, who could fire everyone involved to end the effort.

McCabe told other FBI officials of his conversation with Rosenstein. None of the people interviewed said that they knew of him ever consulting Kelly or Sessions. The episode is the first known instance of a named senior administration official weighing the 25th Amendment. Unidentified others have been said to discuss it, including an unnamed senior administration official who wrote an op-ed for The New York Times. That person's identity is unknown to journalists in the Times news department. New York Times