Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on Wednesday said the demands from allies of President Donald Trump to "shut down" special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe are "irresponsible and reckless" and "a danger to us all."
In a speech on the floor of the Senate, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee condemned the "growing chorus" of "threats" to the probe.
"I rise today concerned about the threats to the special counsel's critical investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election," Warner said.
"Over the last several weeks a growing chorus of irresponsible and reckless voices have called for President [Donald] Trump to shut down special counsel Mueller's investigation.
"At first these calls came from the fringes of our political discourse, those who would refuse to put our country and our security before base political instinct."
Bt in recent weeks, he said, "those voices seem to be growing in stridency and volume."
Warner referred to speculation on Fox News that Mueller could be involved in a coup against the president, and that the "fix was in" against Trump.
"Beyond being irresponsible, the seemingly coordinated nature of these claims should alarm us all, particularly since in recent days these baseless accusations have been repeated by several members of the House of Representatives," he added.
Warner said he hoped he "would never have to make this kind of speech."
"But there are troubling signs," he said. "It is critical that all of as elected officials and as citizens speak up against these threats now before it's too late."
Earlier Wednesday, Warner told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell that Trump had been "denigrating" the intelligence community because he "didn't like the unanimous results of the agencies that talked about Russia's massive interference in our elections."