Updated 8:55 a.m. | President Donald Trump launched what amounted to a preemptive strike in his fight to shape public opinion about Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia probe just hours before the special counsel is expected to release telling documents about his findings.

Trump’s approval rating is back around 40 percent and could take a further hit when the documents are released if they show Mueller and other federal prosecutors are turning their sights on him. Legal experts have said in recent days that as more and more evidence comes out in official documents, the more it appears Mueller and others are looking hard at “Individual 1,” legal parlance they say clearly refers to Trump.

Mueller is expected to recommend a sentence for Trump’s former “fixer” and personal attorney, Michael Cohen, which will require him to reveal why he is asking for a specific sentence ahead of a federal judge’s Tuesday final ruling. The special counsel also will explain to another judge why he is accusing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort with blowing up the plea deal he struck with prosecutors by lying to investigators.

And in a separate case from Mueller’s, federal prosecutors in New York are expected to file a sentencing memo explaining Cohen’s help with their probe.

Trump has complained publicly that Manafort is being treated unfairly, and Cohen’s cooperation with Mueller and other prosecutors which reportedly has left him agitated and downtrodden. For instance, the president was noticeably sullen during a G-20 summit last weekend in Argentina.