Donald Trump testifying under oath fear leaves White House in meltdown

Officials in the White House are becoming increasingly concerned at the prospect of Donald Trump testifying under oath to special counsel Robert Mueller.

According to a report by Axios, a source has claimed that Trump would be "incapable of avoiding perjuring himself".

The fears surfaced after Trump told reporters last week that he would be willing to speak under oath to Mueller, who is investigating allegations of collusion with Russia.

Trump said: "There's been no collusion whatsoever," and said of answering Mueller's questions, "There's no obstruction whatsoever, and I'm looking forward to it."

But staff in the West Wing have become nervous about what Trump might say if he faces Mueller for an interview.

The source who spoke to Axios said: "Trump doesn't deal in reality. He creates his own reality and he actually believes it."

It is thought that many of those who work in close proximity to Trump have been made aware of an article which details one of the last times Trump was put under oath.

Bloomberg's Timothy O'Brien detailed in his article how he was sued for libel by Trump in 2006 over a biography he had written about the property tycoon billionaire.

O'Brien wrote: "Speaking from experience, I think the president's attorneys should grab their worry beads."

In testimonies to O'Brien's lawyers Trump was forced to admit that on 30 occasions he had lied about property values, his wealth and other business deals.

In the end, Trump lost his legal action.

A number of individuals from within and outside the White House have been charged with various offences over the Russia scandal:

• Michael Flynn, former National Security Adviser to Trump has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.

• In October, the former chairman of Trump's presidential election campaign, Paul Manafort, was placed under house arrest after he was indicted as part of the investigation into Russian collusion at the polls.

• Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were indicted on 12 counts of conspiracy against the United States, including conspiracy to launder money, being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading Foreign Agent Registration Act statements, and failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.

• One of Trump's former top campaign advisers, George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during investigations into a Trump campaign-Russia link.

Republicans have recently attempted to delegitimise Mueller's investigation by criticising members of his team.