US Democrat Senator Chris Coons has said that he believes that Donald Trump is likely to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, following the recent ousters of top administration officials by the president.
"I think the president's abrupt recent actions in how he dismissed the VA secretary, the secretary of State, other key members of his Cabinet suggest that this is something he is likely to do," Coons said on Friday.
Coons said that many lawmakers believe that it would be "dreadful" if Trump fired Mueller, a former FBI director, who has been running a high-profile investigation into allegations that Trump won the 2016 US presidential election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton only because Moscow had rigged the election in his favor.
Trump has said that his election campaign’s collusion with the Russian government during the US 2016 presidential election was a “hoax”.
"The Russian 'hoax' was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!" he said last month.
Trump has repeatedly denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians and has condemned the investigations. Russia has also denied the allegations. Trump has also labeled Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt,” and has suggested that Russians might have meddled in favor of Clinton.
Senator Coons said on Friday that the recent spate of dismissals among the top ranks of the Trump administration shows that the president could fire Mueller as well.
Last week, President Donald Trump announced Gen. H.R. McMaster's replacement, making Bolton -- a former US ambassador to the United Nations -- his third national security adviser, part of a shake-up that creates one of the most hawkish national security teams of any White House in recent history.
Top White House economic adviser, Gary Cohn, resigned earlier this month, and Trump named Larry Kudlow to replace him.
And earlier this month Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was forced to quit. CIA Director Mike Pompeo was named as Tillerson's replacement.
Trump said on Wednesday that he is also replacing Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin with Adm. Ronny Jackson, who is currently the White House physician.