President Trump’s lawyers want the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference and possible collusion with the Trump campaign to be put on hold should Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein quit or be fired.

“If in fact Rod Rosenstein does end up resigning today, I think it clearly becomes necessary and appropriate … that there be a step back taken here, and a review, a review that has to be thorough and complete … and basically a time out on this inquiry,” Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said on his radio show Monday, The Daily Beast reported.

Another Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, later told the website that he agreed with Sekulow’s call to hit the pause button on Robert Mueller’s probe if Rosenstein gets the boot.

Sekulow and Giuliani have worked mightily to discredit Mueller, his team of seasoned investigators and the entire probe, which the president has repeatedly called “a hoax” and a “witch hunt” while insisting there was “no collusion!”

The lawyers say Rosenstein, Mueller and the entire Justice Department are biased against the president, part of a so-called “Deep State” anti-Trump conspiracy.

During his radio show, Sekulow endorsed an effort by Trump-supporting Sen. Lindsey Graham to appoint a second special counsel to investigate the first special counsel.

Rosenstein appointed Mueller and oversees his investigation.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco, a Trump appointee and the highest-ranking Senate-confirmed official below Rosenstein in the Justice Department, would take control of the Mueller investigation.

The reports about Rosenstein add to the turmoil roiling the administration, just six weeks before midterm elections with control of Congress at stake.

In addition to dealing with the Mueller investigation, Team Trump was struggling to win confirmation of its Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations.

Trump had previously floated the idea of firing Rosenstein in April after the FBI raided the office and home of the president’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen, who has since pleaded guilty to several felonies and been interviewed by Mueller’s team.

But the latest move comes after a New York Times report of Rosenstein’s comments in May 2017.

That report and an unsigned opinion piece by a senior official in the Republican administration played to some of the president’s concerns about the Deep State trying to undermine him from within the government.

With AP