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

Trump has also sent his “Cryin Chuck Schumer” tweet out from the official president’s account.

The Washington Post give the story the full six columns on its front page, as the New York Times did.

The president has tweeted for the first time since news of Comey’s dismissal broke.

10 May 201722.45 EDT

Lois Beckett

In explaining why President Trump fired Comey, the White House has leaned heavily on a Justice Department memo outlining criticism of Comey from a bipartisan set of former Justice Department officials.

But one of the critics quoted in the memo – a former deputy attorney general under Republican President George H.W. Bush – has called the justification for Comey’s firing a “sham,” and said his legitimate criticisms of Comey had little to do with the real reason the FBI director was fired.

“I view the firing based it seems entirely on Comey’s mishandling of the Clinton investigation by making various inappropriate public statements as a sham,” former deputy attorney general Donald Ayer told Buzzfeed News tonight in an e-mail. “At the time, Mr. Trump was supportive of the most incorrect things that Comey did – editorializing about the facts of the then ended investigation and later announcing that the investigation had been reopened.”

Rod Rosenstein, Trump’s deputy attorney general, authored the 9 May memo outlining why Comey’s approach to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails had damaged the credibility of the FBI and the Justice Department. The White House released the memo on Tuesday along with the president’s letter firing the FBI director.

Rosenstein “should realize that his correct assessment of those mistakes is now being used to justify [Comey’s] firing for a very different reason,” Ayers told Buzzfeed.

What that reasons is, Ayer declined to say. He confirmed the accuracy of his previous quotes to The Guardian, but declined to comment on what he believed the real reasons for Comey’s firing might be.

He told The Guardian that he could not comment further because he was in Nepal and about to embark on a trek that would leave him without internet for the rest of the week.

• FBI director James Comey has been fired by Donald Trump, who said in a letter that Comey was being “terminated and removed” because he was “not able to effectively lead the bureau.
• The sacking came after attorney general Jeff Sessions and deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein recommended to Trump that he be removed over his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, but critics believe the dismissal is more closely linked to Comey’s role in investigating Trump’s allies over alleged links to Russian interference in the 2016 election.
• Comey found out he had been fired while speaking to FBI employees in Los Angeles. He reportedly thought it was a prank.
• The controversial move has been condemned by Democrats, many of whom said the sacking was “Nixonian” and some high profile Republicans including Trump supporters.
• Justin Amash, a Republican congressman from Michigan said he was reviewing legislation to establish an independent commission on Russia in the wake of the news.
• Richard Burr, a Republican leading the Senate intelligence committee investigation into Russia’s influence over the 2016 presidential election, said he was “troubled by the timing and reasoning” of the decision.
• Chuck Schumer, Democratic minority leader in the Senate, said he told Trump he was “making a very big mistake.”
• Meanwhile, a CNN report claims that a grand jury has been convened and has started issuing subpoenas relating to the FBI’s Russia probe. The development, if confirmed suggests the investigation has entered a new phase.
• Trump has yet to comment on the sacking. He is due to meet Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov at the White House on Wednesday.

Republican senator for Nebraska, Ben Sasse, has put out a statement, saying the timing of Comey’s firing is troubling.

Regardless of how you think Director Comey handled the unprecedented complexities of the 2016 election cycle, the timing of this firing is very troubling. Jim Comey is an honorable public servant, and in the midst of a crisis of public trust that goes well beyond who you voted for in the presidential election, the loss of an honorable public servant is a loss for the nation. As the chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee, I have reached out to the Deputy Attorney General for clarity on his rationale for recommending this action.”

10 May 201722.01 EDT

Julian Borger

If confirmed, the news that a grand jury has been convened and has started issuing subpoenas suggests that the investigation into the Trump camp’s links with Moscow has entered a new phase.

Under US law, grand juries (which are larger than normal 12-person court juries) have sweeping powers to compel witnesses to appear, to call for the presentation of documents and to issue indictments.

While the Republican majorities in the House and Senate could hold back congressional investigations and a new FBI director to kill off its counter-intelligence investigation, a grand jury is not under Trump’s control. He may not be able to stop the Russian collusion affair from going to court.

Marco Rubio “didn’t see it coming”.