Calls for special prosecutor after Trump sacks FBI director – as it happened

More Democrat senators are expressing disquiet over the sacking of Comey:

10 May 201720.07 EDT

Keith Schiller hand delivered letter to FBI

Ben Jacobs

The Guardian confirmed that Keith Schiller, Trump’s longtime bodyguard, hand delivered a copy of letter sacking Comey to the FBI.

Schiller, whose title in the administration is “Director of Oval Office Operations,” is the subject of ongoing litigation for allegedly assaulting protestors outside Trump Tower in 2015.

The loyal Trump aide has worked for the President since 1999 when he was first hired to be Trump’s bodyguard and constantly accompanied Trump on the campaign trial.

The dispatch of Schiller, a former New York City policeman, to formally notify Comey of his firing is one of the more unusual aspects of the drama. Comey, as we have noted below, was not in Washington to receive the letter and instead, reportedly learned of his dismissal from television news.

Jeffrey Toobin, CNN’s senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, make a great point about the Trump letter which “terminated” James Comey’s employment. In the letter Trump thanks Comey for apparently three times telling him he was not under investigation. (BTW: we don’t know whether that statement is actually true).

It is not normal. This is not how presidents behave. They don’t exonerate themselves in letters in which they fire the person who is investigating them. It is just not how American history has unfolded.”

More on how Comey learned he was out.

It is not just Democrats who are concerned over the administration’s treatment of Comey. Republican senator and Trump supporter Richard Burr has been tweeting his thoughts and says he was troubled by the “timing and reasoning” of the termination.

Here is a video of Chuck Schumer describing how he told Trump that he was making a “big mistake” firing Comey and that the president needs to answer a key question: “Why now?”.

In response, a White House aide has circulated a memo detailing times when Schumer criticised Comey.

GOP congressman and Freedom Caucus member Justin Amash has said wants an independent commission on Russia to be set up in the wake of Comey’s sacking.

Hello, Bonnie Malkin here picking up the blog from Sam for the coming hours.

The New York Times is reporting that Comey learned of his firing while he was addressing FBI employees in Los Angeles.

Guardian reporters Sabrina Siddiqui and Ben Jacobs have an analysis on how Comey became tangled in the US election and what led to his downfall:

His decision to use a lengthy press conference to clear Clinton of any criminal activity on 6 July – even as he characterized her behavior as “extremely careless” – was met with scorn by Trump and Republicans running to thwart her White House ambitions.

That moment swiftly transformed Comey into Public Enemy No 1 on the right, which accused him of giving Clinton preferential treatment as the central plank of their campaign collapsed, after months of arguing that her email use had disqualified her from the presidency.

Here’s the full piece:

The Senate minority leader has weighed in:

He added, “If we don’t get a special prosecutor, every American will rightfully suspect that the decision to fire #Comey was part of a cover-up.”

Meanwhile Brian Schatz, US senator from Hawaii has offered an even stronger rebuke of Trump: