Palm Beach, Florida - Former President Donald Trump denied reports that he had shared US nuclear submarine secrets with an Australian businessman in a meeting at his Florida mansion shortly after leaving office.

The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, identified the entrepreneur as billionaire Anthony Pratt, who heads one of the world's largest packaging companies.

ABC News, which first revealed the story, said Pratt later shared sensitive details about the US submarines with "scores of others, including more than a dozen foreign officials, several of his own employees, and a handful of journalists."

Sources told the Times that Trump's disclosures "potentially endangered the US nuclear fleet."

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But Trump dismissed the reports as "false and ridiculous" in a post on his social media platform Truth Social and claimed baselessly that they had been invented by prosecutors trying to damage his chances of returning to the White House.

He insisted all he did was "state that we make the best Submarines and Military Equipment anywhere in the World – A pretty well known fact!"

Federal prosecutors already investigating Trump for holding classified material at Mar-a-Lago after he left office, interviewed Pratt twice about the incident, the reports said.

Pratt may now be called by prosecutors to testify against Trump in his classified documents trial, which is due to start next May in Florida.