Robert Mueller

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s anger over what he called the “fake and corrupt” Russia investigation flared anew on Wednesday, fueling a bipartisan push in the Senate for a new proposal to prevent the president from firing special counsel Robert Mueller.

The revised legislation, which merges two ideas introduced last year, would write into law current regulations saying the special counsel can only be removed for good cause by Justice Department leaders. It would also allow the special counsel to appeal the firing in court.

“This is a time when all of us — Republicans and Democrats — need to stand up and make it clear that we are committed to the rule of law in this country,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democratic sponsor of the bill, said in a statement.

A Republican sponsor, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said, “The integrity and independence of special counsel investigations are vital to reaffirming the American people’s confidence in our nation’s rule of law.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee might consider the legislation at a hearing on Thursday.

Trump has struggled for months to stifle his irritation at the investigation into Russia’s election interference, possible Trump campaign complicity and whether the president sought to obstruct justice. Last month he singled out Mueller by name for the first time. But his rage exploded on Monday after federal agents raided the New York home, office and hotel room of Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer.

Although the agents were reportedly looking for evidence involving hush money payments to two women who said they had affairs to Trump years ago, the raids were based at least in part on information provided by Mueller to the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.

Venting on Twitter on Wednesday morning, Trump blamed the investigation into Moscow’s political interference for “much of the bad blood with Russia.” He accused the special counsel’s office of being staffed by “Democrat loyalists” and described Mueller as “conflicted.”

Mueller, and Justice Department leaders, are Republicans. Trump did not say why he thinks Mueller has a conflict of interest, a charge that could lay the groundwork for removing him. He’s previously complained that Mueller should not lead the probe because, among other reasons, Trump interviewed him as a potential FBI director after firing James Comey in May.

Mueller, who previously was FBI director under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, was appointed special counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein soon after that interview.

The push for a law protecting the special counsel received another boost this week after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested on Tuesday that the president has the authority to directly fire Mueller.

Her statement raised eyebrows because the White House has previously denied firing Mueller was under consideration.

It’s been broadly assumed that Trump would need to order Justice leaders to remove Mueller, rather than doing it himself.

That’s how President Richard Nixon ousted Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, in 1973. When the attorney general and his deputy refused Nixon’s order to fire Cox, they were pushed aside. The solicitor general, Robert Bork, who was next in the chain of command, carried out the decision. That so-called Saturday Night Massacre created a fierce backlash and led to the appointment of a second special prosecutor.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who announced on Wednesday that he wouldn’t run for re-election, said people at the White House — he did not specify who — assured him that Trump would not fire Mueller.

“I have no reason to believe that’s going to happen,” Ryan said.