White House advisers and associates of President Donald Trump have reportedly urged him to hire an outside lawyer to help deal with controversies surrounding his campaign's alleged ties to Russia.

Aides are especially concerned about the revelation fired FBI Director James Comey kept memos of all his conversations with the president, according to The New York Times.

Trump associates made their pleas for an outside lawyer before Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed a special counsel to oversee the FBI's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the Times reported.

The Times noted it is not unprecedented for a president to hire outside counsel; Bill and Hillary Clinton hired David Kendall during the summer of 1993 as they were dealing with a Justice Department effort to subpoena business records related to their Whitewater real estate holdings.

The Times reported Trump has signaled he will likely hire an attorney, but he has not reached a decision yet.