Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested last year that he covertly record the president in the White House and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, The New York Times reported Friday.

The move will almost certainly reopen President Donald Trump s considerations into firing him.

Rosensteins comments were reportedly made in the spring of 2017 in light of Trump firing James Comey as FBI director and sharing classified intelligence with the Russians. They were relayed to the Times by unnamed sources who say they were either briefed on the comments or on memos written by FBI officials that detailed them.

Though none of Rosensteins efforts apparently materialized, the Times sources said he hoped to recruit Attorney General Jeff Sessions and then-Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly to help invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows for the removal of a president deemed unfit for office.

Sources speaking to ABC News also alleged that Rosenstein took those steps to consider invoking the 25th amendment.

His strategy for recording Trump an effort aimed at exposing the chaos in the White House involved asking FBI officials being interviewed to replace Comey as FBI director to wear wires during their conversations with the president, the sources said.

However, a source in the room during the wire-wearing conversation who requested anonymity told HuffPost that Rosensteins suggestion was made in jest.

I remember this meeting and remember the wire comment, the source said. The statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president.

Though several sources who spoke to the Times said the suggestions were said seriously, The Washington Post , NBC and Voice of America also cited insider sources saying the comment was sarcastic.

Rosenstein denied the report in a statement to the Times.