Donald Trump has reportedly warned that his policies will be "quickly and violently" overturned if the Democrats take control of Congress after the midterm elections in November.
According to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times, the US president told evangelical leaders during a closed-door meeting that everything was at stake for his agenda ahead of the first major test of his popularity.
He is said to have told attendees that the Democrats would "overturn everything that we've done" if they secure crucial votes in the autumn – and that they would do it "quickly and violently".
And Mr Trump suggested there could be actual violence if there are any protests against those changes.
He referenced the threat of anti-fascist group Antifa, which he described as "violent people".
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In what appeared to be an urgent bid for support from conservative Christians across the country, Mr Trump told the leaders that the elections were a referendum "on your religion" and "on free speech".
He added that they would "lose everything" if the midterms do not go his way, and urged ministers and pastors to use their "tremendous power" to swing undecided voters to his cause.
"I just ask you to go out and make sure all of your people vote," Mr Trump said.
"Because if they don't we're going to have a miserable two years and we're going to have, frankly, a very hard period of time because then it just gets to be one election – you're one election away from losing everything you've got."
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0:39Some of the event on Monday was open to reporters, with The New York Times reporting that Mr Trump spoke about abortion and youth unemployment.
He proceeded to issue his warnings after journalists were shown out of the room.
Mr Trump has been under mounting pressure since his ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former long-time lawyer Michael Cohen were convicted of tax fraud and election finance offences respectively.
Both bombshells dropped on the same day last week, with Mr Cohen said to be "more than happy" to tell the special counsel looking into collusion with Russia everything he knows about the president.
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Speaking to Reuters, a source close to the president admitted it had been a "bad day for the home team".
The source said the legal woes could hurt voter turnout and increase the Republicans' risk of losing their 23-seat majority in the House of Representatives in November's elections, adding: "This hurts our midterm prospects."
Mr Trump has sought to downplay both convictions and – in an interview with Sky News – his lawyer Rudy Giuliani said "the American people would revolt" if the president was impeached.
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Mr Trump has used similar rhetoric throughout his short political career, saying that his supporters would probably react violently if he did not win the Republican nomination back in 2016.
"I think you'd have riots," he warned.
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Sky News
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