FILE - Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after a closed-door meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee about Russian meddling in the election and possible connection to the Trump campaign, at the Capitol in Washington, June 21, 2017.

The U.S. leader also attacked two former ousted Federal Bureau of Investigation officials, former director James Comey, fired by Trump last May, and former deputy director Andrew McCabe, dismissed at Trump's urging late Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, 26 hours before McCabe was set to retire and collect his full pension.

The US president's aggressive stance followed a call on Saturday by his personal lawyer for Rod Rosenstein - whom Mr Trump appointed as deputy attorney general and who now oversees Mr Mueller's inquiry - to "bring an end" to that investigation. "It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign".

Trump's attacks on the special counsel team reinforced demands by Democrats to protect Mueller's investigation.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, issued a statement regarding Mr. Trump and his harsh words for Mueller to the New York Times. I see no cause when it comes to Mr. Mueller.

Trump tweeted earlier today, "Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?"

Trump complained anew in a tweet late Saturday that the Mueller probe was a "witch hunt" and "should never have been started in that there was no collusion".

Just a day after news that Mueller had interviewed McCabe and asked him about Comey's firing, Trump attacked the special counsel's team, seeming to suggest it has a partisan bias.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican and an informal adviser to Trump, said it would be inappropriate for the president to try to fire Mueller.

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Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe's attorney is criticizing President Donald Trump's weekend tweets as evidence that McCabe's firing was improper.

Trump also claimed Comey lied under oath at a Senate hearing by saying he had never been an anonymous source.

It remains unclear when Mueller will conclude his investigation, but as it moves steadily closer to the president, his inner circle and his business interests, he has lashed out ever more sharply.

"As I said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency because we are a rule-of-law nation", Graham said. McCabe was sacked by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday night after being long derided by the President. "And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not", Comey wrote, responding to Trump and teasing his own book in one fell swoop.

The Associated Press later reported that McCabe kept personal memos detailing interactions with Trump that have been provided to Mueller's office and are similar to notes compiled by Comey.

Though the precise contents are unknown, the memos possibly could help substantiate Mr. McCabe's assertion that he was unfairly maligned by the White House.

Flake said he hopes enough people would tell Trump to not "go there" now so Republicans will not have to deal with him crossing that line.

Dowd told the AP that he wasn't calling on Rosenstein to fire the special counsel immediately and hadn't discussed with him the idea of dismissing Mueller or ending the probe.

"We have confidence in Mueller".