Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to decry an "illegal coup attempt" after an American 60 Minutes interview in which former acting FBI chief Andrew McCabe says discussions were held about removing the US President from office.
Mr McCabe told 60 Minutes the talks were held in 2017, and were about invoking a clause under the 25th Amendment that can remove a president if he were to be deemed unfit.
Mr Trump has tweeted, saying any such discussions were "illegal and treasonous".
He quoted Dan Bongino of Fox and Friends calling the move an "illegal coup attempt", adding "True!"
The US Department of Justice has said Mr McCabe's account of the alleged talks is "inaccurate and factually incorrect".
Mr McCabe also backed a New York Times report that Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein remarked about wearing a wire in meetings with Mr Trump.
"To be fair, it was an unbelievably stressful time," Mr McCabe said.
"I can't even describe for you how many things would have been coursing through the Deputy Attorney-General's mind at that point. So it was really something that he kind of threw out in a very frenzied, chaotic conversation about where we were and what we needed to do next."
Asked if Mr Rosenstein wanted to "get rid of" the the President "one way or another", Mr McCabe said: "I can't confirm that, but what I can say is the Deputy Attorney-General was definitely very concerned, about the President, about his capacity, and about his intent at that point in time."
Mr Trump's angry tweets came as protesters gathered in cities across America to demonstrate against his declaration of a national emergency to fund his planned US-Mexico border wall.
"I have to say, it's the first emergency I've ever heard of that you can plan for three weeks in advance," said Elizabeth Beavers from the Indivisible Project.
"It's the first one I've ever heard of that someone who called the emergency can immediately leave to go golfing."
ABC/AP
