Trump urged by some to go on the attack against Mueller
Even as President Donald Trump's advisers encourage him to accept the realities of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe  longtime friends and allies are pushing  Trump  to fight back  citing concerns that  his  lawyers are naive to the existential threat facing the president.
 Trump  supporters and associates inside and outside the White House see the conciliatory path as risky to the maverick president's tenure. Instead  they want the street-fighting tweeter to criticize Mueller with abandon.
The struggle between supporters of the legal team's steady  cooperative approach  and the band of  Trump  loyalists who yearn for a fight  comes as the Mueller probe begins lapping at the door of the Oval Office. Mueller  who is investigating the firing of former FBI director James Comey and other key actions of the  Trump  administration  has signaled that his team intends to interview multiple current and former White House officials in the coming weeks and has requested large batches of documents from the executive branch.
In private   Trump  remains relatively calm for now  but that doesn't mean he thinks the Russia probe is legitimate  and he could return to fighting Mueller at any moment  according to a group of about 15  Trump  allies  advisers and former campaign aides  who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations with the White House.
The president still periodically flashes his anger  blasting the Senate intelligence committee's investigation in a tweet last Thursday and urging them to investigate journalists instead of his campaign and family. And in a private dinner with social conservatives last month   Trump  expressed frustration over Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal  which helped pave the road to Mueller's appointment.
"The president respects what Bob Mueller is doing and has fully cooperated and asked everyone around him to fully cooperate with Bob " said  Trump 's attorney  John Dowd. "And as a result " he added  there has been for months "a very productive  professional relationship."
Ty Cobb  the White House lawyer responsible for responding to Mueller's information requests  said it's important to  Trump  "and the country to get this behind us."
But the question of cooperation is far from settled for  Trump 's allies  many of whom are pressing  him  to fight Mueller more aggressively.
That tension was apparent at a private dinner of close to a dozen conservative leaders with  Trump  and  his  top aides on Sept. 25  though accounts of the gathering vary.
In one version  one guest peppered  Trump  with questions about what  he  was going to do about the special counsel's investigation. While  Trump  was dismissive   the president  said  he  was keeping  his  head low and such questions should be posed to Sessions himself  according to two people who were present and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private dinner.
But a third person in the room said that  Trump  was visibly angry with Sessions and made a flippant remark about the attorney general's decision to recuse himself from overseeing the federal Russia probe.
One former  Trump  campaign aide in contact with  the president  said  Trump 's feelings about Sessions have evolved in the last few months.  Trump  believes Sessions hurt  him  by not disclosing  his  interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the vetting process for attorney general.
Sessions should have been upfront with  Trump  and alerted  him  to those encounters rather than waiting for word of them to become public  the former campaign aide said. But  the president 's anger with Sessions also has diminished greatly in recent months  the same aide noted.
Supporters of  Trump 's legal team and the discipline imposed by Chief of Staff John Kelly are hoping that  Trump  will remain even-keeled and not jeopardize  himself  with public outbursts. They consider Mueller's appointment the product of the most serious of self-inflicted wounds â  Trump 's firing of Comey â but are confident  Trump  will survive the investigation.
But others  including many who worked closely with  Trump  on  his  successful election campaign  don't trust Mueller and believe White House lawyers are foolhardy to cooperate when  the president  is at risk.
The president and  his  team need to understand that this is a "political brawl" â not just a legal fight â and take that fight to Mueller  said the former campaign aide  who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions with the president and  his  team.
Even as  [TGT]  encourage  [TGT]  to accept the realities of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe  longtime friends and allies are pushing  Trump  to fight back  citing concerns that   [TGT]   lawyers are naive to the existential threat facing the president.
 Trump  supporters and associates inside and outside the White House see the conciliatory path as risky to the maverick president's tenure. Instead  they want the street-fighting tweeter to criticize Mueller with abandon.
The struggle between supporters of the legal team's steady  cooperative approach  and the band of  Trump  loyalists who yearn for a fight  comes as the Mueller probe begins lapping at the door of the Oval Office. Mueller  who is investigating the firing of former FBI director James Comey and other key actions of the  Trump  administration  has signaled that his team intends to interview multiple current and former White House officials in the coming weeks and has requested large batches of documents from the executive branch.
In private   Trump  remains relatively calm for now  but that doesn't mean he thinks the Russia probe is legitimate  and he could return to fighting Mueller at any moment  according to a group of about 15  Trump  allies  advisers and former campaign aides  who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations with the White House.
The president still periodically flashes his anger  blasting the Senate intelligence committee's investigation in a tweet last Thursday and urging them to investigate journalists instead of his campaign and family. And in a private dinner with social conservatives last month   Trump  expressed frustration over Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal  which helped pave the road to Mueller's appointment.
"The president respects what Bob Mueller is doing and has fully cooperated and asked everyone around him to fully cooperate with Bob " said  Trump 's attorney  John Dowd. "And as a result " he added  there has been for months "a very productive  professional relationship."
Ty Cobb  the White House lawyer responsible for responding to Mueller's information requests  said it's important to  Trump  "and the country to get this behind us."
But the question of cooperation is far from settled for  Trump 's allies  many of whom are pressing  him  to fight Mueller more aggressively.
That tension was apparent at a private dinner of close to a dozen conservative leaders with  Trump  and  his  top aides on Sept. 25  though accounts of the gathering vary.
In one version  one guest peppered  Trump  with questions about what  he  was going to do about the special counsel's investigation. While  Trump  was dismissive   the president  said  he  was keeping  his  head low and such questions should be posed to Sessions himself  according to two people who were present and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private dinner.
But a third person in the room said that  Trump  was visibly angry with Sessions and made a flippant remark about the attorney general's decision to recuse himself from overseeing the federal Russia probe.
One former  Trump  campaign aide in contact with  the president  said  Trump 's feelings about Sessions have evolved in the last few months.  Trump  believes Sessions hurt  him  by not disclosing  his  interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the vetting process for attorney general.
Sessions should have been upfront with  Trump  and alerted  him  to those encounters rather than waiting for word of them to become public  the former campaign aide said. But  the president 's anger with Sessions also has diminished greatly in recent months  the same aide noted.
Supporters of  Trump 's legal team and the discipline imposed by Chief of Staff John Kelly are hoping that  Trump  will remain even-keeled and not jeopardize  himself  with public outbursts. They consider Mueller's appointment the product of the most serious of self-inflicted wounds â  Trump 's firing of Comey â but are confident  Trump  will survive the investigation.
But others  including many who worked closely with  Trump  on  his  successful election campaign  don't trust Mueller and believe White House lawyers are foolhardy to cooperate when  the president  is at risk.
The president and  his  team need to understand that this is a "political brawl" â not just a legal fight â and take that fight to Mueller  said the former campaign aide  who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions with the president and  his  team.