Trump expects exoneration soon — and if not, he’ll risk impeachment by firing Mueller: report

President Donald Trump believes that special counsel Robert Mueller will soon send him a letter that completely exonerates him of any wrongdoing -- but the president's allies fear that such a letter will never come.

CNN reports that Trump has recently been boasting to allies that the Russia probe will be over very shortly, and that Mueller will personally exonerate him. The president believes this, CNN's sources say, because his attorneys have tried to manage him by telling him that he faces no real danger from the probe.

However, some of the president's allies believe this is delusional, wishful thinking -- and they fear what Trump will do if that exoneration letter never comes.

One Trump ally tells CNN that the president will likely have a "meltdown" after months go by without an exoneration letter, after which "he'll try and fire Mueller and then be impeached."

Another Trump ally similarly warns that Trump's lawyers are playing a dangerous game by buttering him up with happy talk about the Mueller probe ending shortly.

"I've known him long enough to know that disappointing him is a problem and they've built up a level of expectations for him that are unrealistic," the source said. "[They've] lulled him into a false sense of security."