Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed his support for Robert Mueller and the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and said the special counsel should look into a report that President Trump wanted to fire him last year.

“I don’t know if the story is true or not, but I know this, Mueller should look at it,” the South Carolina lawmaker said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Trump ordered Mueller’s firing in June 2017 – less than a month after his appointment as special counsel – but backed off after White House counsel Don McGahn threatened to quit , according to a newspaper account .

“Don McGahn, if the story is true in the New York Times, did the right thing, and the good news is the president listened,” Graham said.

“The investigation needs to go forward without political interference, and I’m sure it will,” he continued. “As a matter of fact, I think Mr. Mueller is the perfect guy to get to the bottom of all this, and he will.”

GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, who has been a vocal critic of the special counsel and questioned the FBI’s impartiality after emails revealed two agents previously on his team made disparaging comments about Trump, urged lawmakers to “leave him the hell alone.”

“I think he’s got a fair prosecutor in Bob Mueller, but I don’t think he’s got a fair jury,” Gowdy said on “Fox News Sunday” about Trump. “Mueller didn’t raise his hand and say ‘pick me.’ “We as a country asked him to do this.”

Since the report, legislation has been introduced in the Senate to prevent Trump from firing Mueller except for “misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, or conflict of interest.”

The president has dismissed the claims he wanted to fire Mueller “fake news” and insists Russia interfering in the election is a “hoax” created by Democrats.

But Ken Starr, the former independent prosecutor whose investigation into former President Bill Clinton’s sexual shenanigans led to his impeachment in the House, said if the reports are accurate, Trump could face impeachment proceedings, too.

“I think lying to the American people is a serious issue that has to be explored. I take lying to the American people very, very seriously, so absolutely,” he said on ABC, when asked if Trump lying about the firing would be grounds for impeachment.

But Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, disputed the report that Trump wanted to ax Mueller.

“I’m not aware the president ever intimated he wanted to fire Robert Mueller,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Robert Mueller is still the special counsel, Don McGahn is still head of White House counsel, The White House continues to cooperate in every manner providing every document the special counsel has asked for.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine had a simple suggestion for Trump about the Russia investigation – stop bringing it up.

“I think the president would be best served by never discussing the investigation ever, whether in tweets, except in private conversations with his attorney,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.”