James Comey

Citing a document summarising the meeting in the Oval Office last week, the New York Times said Mr Trump called Mr Comey a "real nut job".

Mr Comey had been running an inquiry into possible collusion between Russia and Donald Trump's election campaign.

The White House has not disputed the language used.

The report was published just as Mr Trump took off on a flight to the Middle East for the first leg of his first foreign tour as president.

And, according to a new report, he has gone even further than that in private, telling then-FBI Director James Comey that Comey should consider locking reporters up.

Trump said this to Comey during a meeting in the Oval Office in February, according to a New York Times report Tuesday. The request came during the same meeting in which Trump is said to have asked Comey to drop the federal investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, potentially interfering with the investigation into alleged ties between Trump's presidential campaign and Russian officials.

Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer warned that destroying any tapes would break the law.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the White House needed to "clear the air" about whether tapes existed.

The comments come after Mr Trump tweeted what appeared to be a thinly veiled threat to the former FBI chief.

He warned Mr Comey last week against talking to the media, saying he had "better hope there are no tapes" of their conversations.

The White House has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of any tapes.

The White House shocked Washington by announcing that James Comey "has been terminated and removed from office".

But Democrats said he was fired because the FBI was investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The move came as it emerged Mr Comey gave inaccurate information about Mrs Clinton's emails to Congress last week.

President Trump wrote in a letter to Mr Comey that he agreed with US Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recommendation that "you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau".