President Donald Trump has spent the last week fuming about Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia investigation in public–but his gripes with it extend into his private conversations, according to a new report.
While Trump’s recent Twitter meltdown has raised speculation that he may fire the special counsel, some lawmakers have cautioned against it.
Mueller has indicted several former members of Trump’s presidential campaign and most recently indicted several Russian individuals and companies for using social media to sow discord among Americans ahead of the 2016 presidential election. New reports suggest Mueller may be focusing on obstruction of justice charges.
However, signs are pointing to a possible interview between the White House and Mueller’s team during a time where Trump’s frustration with the prolonged nature of the investigation appears to be intensifying.
Trump’s unease with Mueller’s investigation has led him to tell confidants that he thinks it is “going to choke the life out of” his presidency, the Associated Press reports.
That feeling appears to be manifesting in a shake-up of the president’s legal team. The New York Times reports that the president has considered dismissing Ty Cobb, a lawyer who has advocated for cooperating with the special counsel, but recently told him that he had no plans to fire him. Another lawyer, John Dowd, has thought about leaving his job because the president has ignored his advice.
Meanwhile, Trump has tapped Joseph E. diGenova, a lawyer and frequent guest on Fox News—who, in the past, has touted the “deep state” conspiracy theory that is popular among far-right internet users.
In January, diGenova said on Fox News that “a group of FBI and DOJ people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime,” when discussing a “brazen plot” among law enforcement to exonerate Hillary Clinton.
The exasperation with Mueller’s investigation spilled over to the president’s Twitter account last weekend, where he called the probe a “total WITCH HUNT” and slammed Mueller’s team as “13 Democrats” despite the fact that Mueller is a Republican and was appointed to head the FBI by former President George W. Bush.