US President Donald Trump has railed against special counsel Robert Mueller in a second day of angry tweets that drew comparisons to Nixon’s Watergate scandal.

Trump’s latest rant comes after the New York Times published a report claiming that the White House general counsel, Don McGahn, had been working extensively with the special counsel team investigating alleged Russian election meddling and potential collusion with the Trump campaign.

Trump insisted McGahn is not a “RAT”, and accused Mueller’s team of “looking for trouble” in its probe into alleged Russian collusion.

In a tweet, the president contrasted McGahn with John Dean, the White House counsel for Richard Nixon during Watergate.

Dean ended up cooperating with prosecutors and helped to bring down Nixon in 1974.

Trump wrote on Sunday: “The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT’”.

He added: “But I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide ...”

Today he called Mueller “disgraced and discredited”.

He wrote: “Anybody needing that much time when they know there is no Russian Collusion is just someone looking for trouble.

“They are enjoying ruining people’s lives and REFUSE to look at the real corruption on the Democrat side – the lies, the firings, the deleted Emails and soooo much more!”

The president added: “If you FIGHT BACK or say anything bad about the Rigged Witch Hunt, they scream Obstruction!”

Dean, former president Nixon’s White House counsel and a critic of Trump, tweeted on Sunday that he doubts the president has “ANY IDEA what McGahn has told Mueller. Also, Nixon knew I was meeting with prosecutors, b/c I told him. However, he didn’t think I would tell them the truth!”

Trump’s original legal team had encouraged McGahn and other White House officials to cooperate with Mueller, and McGahn spent hours in interviews.