A rumor purportedly circulating around Capitol Hill that President Trump plans to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller is false, says White House Special Counsel Ty Cobb.

“As the White House has said for months, there is no consideration being given to firing the Special Counsel,” Cobb told The Daily Caller on Saturday in response to growing speculation that Mueller will soon be canned.

Trump has made no public comments about Mueller over the past week, but Democrats have increasingly speculated that Trump will find a way to shut down the special counsel probe.

Republicans have accused Democrats of raising that concern in order to deflect from revelations this week about anti-Trump text messages sent by the FBI agent who oversaw that Russia investigation went it began last year. Peter Strzok, the agent, was removed from Mueller’s investigation when his politically charged text messages were discovered.

Democrats have said that they fear that Trump will use the text messages as an excuse to shut down Mueller’s inquiry, which started in May.

Cobb and others at the White House have shot down speculation in the past that Mueller will be fired.

The spectre of Mueller’s ouster reached a fever pitch on Saturday after California Rep. Jackie Speier said in an interview that the prevailing rumor in Washington is that Mueller will be fired before Christmas.

“The rumor on the Hill when I left yesterday was that the president was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week. And on Dec. 22nd, when we are out of D.C., he was going to fire Robert Mueller,” Speier said in an interview.

Speier, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, did not disclose where she heard the gossip.

“The rumor on the Hill when I left yesterday was that the president was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week. And on Dec. 22nd, when we are out of D.C., he was going to fire Robert Mueller.” – @RepSpeier on @KQEDnews

pic.twitter.com/eSQhggEHvD — #MarchForTruth (@MarchForTruth17) December 16, 2017

CNN reported on Friday that Trump’s legal team is scheduled to meet with Mueller and his team of prosecutors next week.

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