Erin Kelly | USA TODAY

Buzz60

Jarrad Henderson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — House Democrats said Thursday they fear President Trump will take action during the two-week congressional recess to fire special counsel Robert Mueller or otherwise derail the Russia investigation.

Trump's escalating verbal attacks against Mueller are stirring speculation on Capitol Hill that Trump could use the recess to fire Mueller or fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and replace them with people who would either dismiss the special prosecutor or undermine his investigation.

"You will notice a bit of trepidation on the part of myself and my colleagues about going into the spring recess with an escalating series of threats and diatribes by the president against the special counsel," said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., at a news conference by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee.

"There always are a handful of people who go to Florida for spring break and start breaking things. We're hoping that President Trump is not someone who's going to go to Florida — specifically to Mar-a-Lago — and start breaking things in the Republic."

Democrats said they were disappointed that Republican leaders would not agree to attach bipartisan legislation to protect Mueller to a $1.3 trillion must-pass spending bill that Congress is voting on before leaving town for its spring recess.

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., filed a discharge petition Wednesday to try to force House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to call a vote on the Special Counsel Integrity Act. Cohen and Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., introduced the bill in December to bar the firing of the special counsel without appropriate cause. It also allows a special counsel who has been fired to seek judicial review of his dismissal.

"Recent events particularly concern me because it seems the president fears that Mueller is close to revealing findings relevant to his mandate and that ending the investigation is the only way to prevent its public release," Cohen said. "If the president has nothing to fear, let the investigation continue."

Trump and his aides have been stepping up their calls in recent days for Mueller to end the Russia investigation. The president has been railing against the probe on Twitter, blasting it in one tweet as "a total witch hunt with massive conflicts of interest." Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion between his campaign and the Russians.

A total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 19, 2018

Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, and possible obstruction of justice by the president.

While Mueller continues his investigation, the House Intelligence Committee voted Thursday along party lines to release a Republican report that effectively ends that panel's Russia probe, despite objections from Democrats.

The report will be released to the public after it is reviewed by intelligence agencies to remove any classified information. However, Republicans on the Intelligence Committee have already concluded publicly that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

And Republicans disagreed with a January 2017 report by the U.S. intelligence community that Russia was trying to help Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton, whom Russian President Vladimir Putin viewed as an enemy while she was secretary of State.

"Last January, we set out to investigate Russian active measures during the 2016 election," Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said in a statement after the committee vote. "Today, we are one step closer to delivering answers to the questions the American people have been asking for over a year... It’s now time for us to share what we’ve found, and move forward as one country, united against foreign aggression."

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said the GOP majority did not conduct a serious investigation. Democrats are continuing their own probe and plan to write a separate report.

"Adoption of this flawed report will do little to advance our understanding of the Russian attack on our democracy in the 2016 elections, but it will please President Donald Trump and end the unpleasant task of investigating the president’s campaign and his own conduct, a duty that has apparently proven too onerous or perilous to be continued," Schiff said in his opening statement before the vote.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is the last remaining congressional panel that is continuing to investigate Russian meddling in the election.

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee, which refused Democrats' requests to conduct its own Russia probe, is focusing its attention on looking into how the FBI handled its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server to conduct official business while she was secretary of State.

Committee leaders are poised to issue subpoenas to the Department of Justice to turn over documents related to the Clinton case, which was closed in 2016 without any findings of criminal wrongdoing by Clinton.