President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday afternoon.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says James Comey was fired because the law enforcement agency needs a "fresh start" and the White House says they will begin searching for a new FBI director immediately.
President Donald Trump is said to have called at least two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee including Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California before the White House announced the dismissal.
In a letter addressed to President Trump and released by the White House, Sessions says the FBI director must be someone who follows "faithfully the rules and principles" of the Justice Department. Sessions also says the individual must be someone who "sets the right example" for law enforcement officials and others in the department.
President Trump addressed a letter to Comey saying the firing was necessary to restore "public trust and confidence" in the FBI.  President Trump says he fired Comey partly based on a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. In the memo, Rosenstein said that Comey mishandled the Hillary Clinton email investigation and that Comey was wrong to announce his own conclusions about "the nation's most sensitive criminal investigation." Rosenstein also said that federal prosecutors should have made a decision on whether to charge Clinton.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley criticized Comey's investigation into Clinton's email practices, saying the FBI was slow to answer questions from his committee. Grassley also said, "The effectiveness of the FBI depends upon the public trust and confidence. Unfortunately, this has clearly been lost."
On the other side, several officials are questioning Trump's actions insisting on an independent prosecutor to investigate possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia as Comey's firing comes days after he testified on Capitol Hill about the FBI's investigation into Russia's election meddling and possible connections between Russia and Trump's campaign. Trump, however, made no mention of Comey's role in the Clinton investigation but did assert that Comey informed him "on three separate occasions that I am not under investigation."
Sen. Kamala Harris of California tweets: "I've said it before and will again - we must have a special prosecutor to oversee the FBI's Russia investigation. This cannot wait."
Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee said "our democracy is in danger," and he pressed Speaker Paul Ryan to appoint a bipartisan commission to investigate the Trump-Russia relationship.
Sen. Dick Durbin stood on the Senate floor and said he would await word from the White House on whether the investigation will continue.
Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden says Trump's decision is "outrageous" an that Comey should be immediately called to testify about the status of the Russia investigation.
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says the timing of Comey's firing "raises massive questions."
Republican John McCain says he has long called for a special congressional committee to investigate Russian interference in the election and said Trump's decision to remove Comey "only confirms the need and the urgency of such a committee."Â McCain said he was disappointed in Trump's decision, calling Comey a man of honor and integrity who led the FBI well in extraordinary circumstances.
Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said Comey's dismissal "will raise questions" and said "it is essential that ongoing investigations are free of political interference until their completion." Corker  also said that Trump must nominate a well-respected person to replace Comey.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer questioned why the firing occurred on Tuesday and wondered whether investigations into the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia were "getting too close to home for the president." Schumer says he told Trump "you are making a big mistake" when the president called to inform him that he was firing FBI Director James Comey.
Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee called President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey "shocking" and deeply troubling, especially because it comes during an active FBI investigation into possible improper contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia. He says Comey's firing comes after he dismissed acting Attorney General Sally Yates and nearly every U.S. attorney. Warner said Trump's actions "make it clear to me that a special counsel also must be appointed" to investigate the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey and Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey say the dismissal is reminiscent of the Watergate scandal and the national turmoil during that time.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings says Congress needs to have immediate emergency hearings and that Comey was the one independent person to investigate Trump and his campaign's possible coordination with Russia.
Clinton's spokesman during her 2016 presidential bid, Brian Fallon, says President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey is "related to Russia, not related to Clinton" and that "the timing and manner of this firing suggests that it is the product of Donald Trump feeling the heat on the ongoing Russia investigation, and not a well-thought-out response to the inappropriate handling of the Clinton investigation."
Fallon said the administration is "falsely citing the very thing that propelled him to the presidency as a convenient excuse" for firing someone "conducting an aggressive investigation into his campaign's connections to the Russian government."
The Associated Press contributed to this story
