A bipartisan group of senators this week will renew its effort to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump.

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; and Cory Booker, D-N.J., will soon reintroduce the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, which was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last April.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said the legislation is unnecessary and never brought it to the floor for a full vote, letting it expire at the end of the last Congress. But McConnell may face new pressure to bring the legislation to the floor this year since Democrats control the House and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., introduced a companion bill in the House last week.

Graham, an ally of Trump, said in a statement that the legislation will “serve the country well.”

“I have every confidence Mr. Mueller will be allowed to finish the job. However, there needs to be institutional protections for special counsels both now and in the future,” Graham said.

Trump has kept up his criticism of Mueller and his investigation into Russian election interference, an inquiry he took over in May 2017.

Tillis has also said he doesn’t believe that Trump will fire Mueller, but he said the bill would still be useful.

"I still believe that is true," Tillis said in the statement. "However, I also believe this bipartisan legislation is good government policy with enduring value across the current and future administrations."

The bill holds that Mueller can only be fired for good cause by a Senate-confirmed Justice Department official, and it would create a 10-day review process that would let Mueller seek expedited judicial review if Trump tries to get rid of him. The bill would block a decision to fire Mueller if that move were found to be in violation of the good-cause condition.

“This is a time when Republicans and Democrats need to stand up and protect the rule of law in this country,” Coons said in a statement.

There has been widespread speculation that Mueller is winding down his investigation and that his final report will be released soon. However, last week, the grand jury that Mueller uses in Washington was extended by a federal judge for up to six months.

In December, Trump said his lawyers are preparing a “major counter report” in response to Mueller’s expected findings.

“We will be doing a major Counter Report to the Mueller Report,” Trump said on Twitter. “This should never again be allowed to happen to a future President of the United States!”