Trump fires FBI Director James Comey

May 9, 2017 at 18:08

President Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey at the recommendation of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to a White House announcement.

"The FBI is one of our Nation's most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement," said President Trump.

President #Trump "acted on recommendations from Deputy AG & Jeff Sessions" - WH Press Secretary https://t.co/0QuvIHeLCQ pic.twitter.com/qykzp07K1H
— RT America (@RT_America) May 9, 2017

“While I greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that I am not under investigation,” Trump told Comey in a letter, he was recommending the firing nonetheless.

Trump's dismissal letter to James Comey: pic.twitter.com/v0RJPnrLgh
— Axios (@axios) May 9, 2017

A search for a new permanent FBI Director will begin immediately.

The firing of Comey comes days after he testified to Congress on investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

URGENT: #FBI director Comey: I have ‘never’ been anonymous source on #Clinton, #Trump investigations https://t.co/0CCO1CDdB3 pic.twitter.com/KHMaReQLJ5
— RT America (@RT_America) May 3, 2017

Earlier Tuesday, the FBI wrote to Congress to correct misstatements Comey made regarding a separate investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information. Comey had testified that top Clinton aide Huma Abedin had forwarded "hundreds and thousands" of emails to her husband, former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, the FBI clarified that most of those emails had been on his laptop via backup devices, while only a few had been the result of forwarded emails, the Associated Press reported.