Donald Trump has denied claims that he periodically flushed documents down a bathroom toilet at the White House.

A new book claims White House staff found documents clogging a toilet and had to call an engineer.

The author, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, told CNN: “The engineer would have to come and fix it and what the engineer would find would be wads of clumped-up printed wet paper.

“Either notes or some other piece of paper that they believe he had thrown down the toilet.”

It was unclear what types of documents were found.

Mr Trump said: “Another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet, is categorically untrue.”

He added: “The Democrats are just using this…as a camouflage for how horribly our country is doing under the Biden administration.”

It came as a Democrat-led committee in Congress is investigating Mr Trump’s handling of White House records after 15 boxes of official documents were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago, his private residence in Florida.

Carolyn Maloney, the Democrat chairwoman of the House oversight committee, said she was “deeply concerned” the records were not promptly turned over to the National Archives when Mr Trump’s term ended in January last year.

She said: “They appear to have been removed from the White House in violation of the Presidential Records Act.”

Ms Maloney said she was also concerned by recent reports that Mr Trump had ripped up other documents after reading them, and that they had to be taped back together before being handed over to the National Archives.

Mr Trump acknowledged that the boxes of records were transported to the National Archives after “discussions” he called “collaborative”.

He said: “The papers were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis.

“The media’s characterisation of my relationship with the National Archives is Fake News. It was exactly the opposite! It was a great honor to work with National Archives to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy.”

The 15 boxes reportedly included letters from Kim Jong-un. Ms Haberman reported that Mr Trump has told people he has remained in contact with the North Korean leader.