WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump threatened Friday to rid his own Department of Justice of a "lingering stench," hours after a report that a top official in the department had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

Deputy Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein denied a report in the New York Times on Friday that he had spoken with senior officials in Trump’s administration about the 25th Amendment. Rosenstein also discussed the idea of wearing a wire in his meetings with Trump.

“We have great people in the Department of Justice,” Trump told a Missouri rally in an extended riff on his concerns with his own Department of Justice.

But, he added, “there’s a lingering stench, and we’re going to get rid of that, too.”

Trump often brings up the Justice Department at his rallies. He did not directly mention Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election.