In an email to The Daily Beast on Saturday following Attorney General Jeff Sessions' late-night firing of former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, John Dowd—President Donald Trump's personal lawyer—called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to "bring an end to [the] alleged Russia collusion investigation" being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller.

"I pray that Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe's boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt dossier," Dowd wrote.

Initially, Dowd told The Daily Beast that, in making this call, he was speaking on behalf of Trump "as his counsel," but later walked this claim back.

"After publication of this story...Dowd emailed to say he was actually speaking in his personal capacity, and not on the president’s behalf," noted The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff.

Commentators reacted to Dowd's remarks with alarm on Twitter, and some lawmakers issued calls for Congress to do everything in its power to protect Mueller's probe.