A prominent US Republican senator allied to Donald Trump has promised to investigate allegations Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed trying to oust the president from office in 2017.
Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe said in an interview on Sunday that Rosenstein was so alarmed by Trump's removal of FBI director James Comey in May 2017, he discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump on the grounds of presidential disability.
"There's an allegation by the acting FBI director at the time that the deputy attorney general was basically trying to do an administrative coup, take the president down to the 25th amendment process," South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told CBS's "Face The Nation."
"We will have a hearing about who's telling the truth, what actually happened."
McCabe took over from Comey as acting FBI director but resigned in January 2018. He remained an FBI employee but was himself controversially fired just 24 hours before he was due to retire in March.
"The deputy attorney general was definitely very concerned about the president, about his capacity and about his intent at that point in time," McCabe said.
Excerpts of the McCabe interview were already broadcast on Thursday.
Asked if he would subpoena Rosenstein and McCabe, Graham replied, "How can I not, if that's what it takes?"
Australian Associated Press
