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....The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the other. Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2018

Trump said the Mueller investigation, which the Justice Department said in May had cost about $17 million as of the end of March, has produced \"nothing but ruined lives.\"

....terrible Gang of Angry Democrats. Look at their past, and look where they come from. The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and they’ve got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and “Justice” Department!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2018

The latest developments have renewed questions about whether President Trump might pardon his former campaign chairman for his crimes. Trump has not ruled out the possibility and has repeatedly told reporters when questioned on the topic that he does not want to discuss it.

\"PHOTO:
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
PHOTO: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders calls on reporters during a news conference at the White House, Sept. 10, 2018, in Washington, DC.
>

Press secretary Sarah Sanders said at a press briefing Tuesday that she is “not aware of any conversations for anyone’s pardon involved\" in the Mueller probe.

The president has previously expressed sympathy for Manafort's legal woes, even comparing how he's been treated to the infamous mobster Al Capone, and pointing to his case as one piece of what he sees as a broader \"witch hunt\" to hurt Trump and his allies.

\"I feel very badly for Paul Manafort,\" Trump has said of his former campaign chairman.

\"I must tell you that Paul Manafort is a good man. He was with Ronald Reagan. He was with a lot of different people over the years. And I feel very sad about that. It doesn't involve me, but I still feel -- you know, it's a very sad thing that happened. This has nothing to do with Russian collusion. This started as Russian collusion. This has absolutely nothing to do -- this is a witch hunt, and it's a disgrace,\" Trump told reporters in August.

In expressing sympathy for Manafort, Trump has expressed particular admiration for the fact that Manafort stood trial as opposed to \"flipping\" to secure a more lenient deal with Mueller's team, a concept that the president has suggested should be illegal.

\"One of the reasons I respect Paul Manafort so much is he went through that trial,\" Trump said in an interview with FOX News in August. \"This whole thing about flipping, they call it. I know all about flipping -- for 30, 40 years I've been watching flippers. Everything's wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go. It almost ought to be outlawed. It's not fair.\"

When Manafort was found guilty on eight counts, including five on tax fraud, Trump at the time took to Twitter to declare that he had \"such respect for a brave man!\"

I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. “Justice” took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” - make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018

Asked by ABC's Jonathan Karl at Tuesday's briefing whether the president is considering having his acting attorney general fire Mueller given his tweet earlier in the day accusing Mueller of \"ruining people's lives,\" Sanders said the president currently has “no intent” of doing so.

“Look, I think that the president has had Bob Mueller doing his job for the last two years and he could have taken action at any point and he hasn’t so we’ll let that speak for itself,” Sanders said.

Pressed on whether he’s ruling it out, Sanders answered, “he has no intent to do anything.”

Asked whether Trump is concerned about the final report that Mueller's team is expected to produce once the investigation wraps -- and whether it might become public -- Sanders said the president doesn't have \"any concerns\" about what it might say because \"there was no wrongdoing by him.\"

ABC News' Alex Mallin, Katherine Faulders, John Santucci and Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.

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