Donald Trump has claimed he is “happy” if Robert Muller’s report into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia is made public, while delivering an angry attack on the special counsel.

In the latest comments seemingly designed to undermine the credibility of the independent prosecutor’s investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election, the president claimed Mr Mueller was “conflicted” because of a “nasty business transaction” the president and he had been involved in.

Yet amid mounting speculation the report could soon be completed, Mr Trump also said he did not mind if it was seen by the general public.

“Let it come out, let people see it, that’s up to the attorney general....and we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters.

In his comments to reporters as he left the White House to visit a tank production unit in Ohio, the president also claimed Mr Mueller “best friend” was James Comey, whose May 2017 firing by the president as head of the FBI triggered the appointment of the special counsel. He said Mr Comey was a “bad cop”.

Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty

Reuters said Mr Mueller is preparing to submit his report to attorney general William Barr. Mr Trump has repeatedly denied that there as collusion with Moscow or that obstructed justice. Russia has itself denied interfering in the election.

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Mr Barr already is coming under pressure from legislators to make the entire document public quickly, though he has wide latitude in what to release, the news agency said.

The House of Representatives voted 420-0 last week on a non-binding resolution calling for Mr Mueller’s report to be released both to Congress and to the public, but it is not clear how the measure will fare in the Senate.