Preet Bharara raises concerns over Federal Bureau of Investigation director Jim Comey's sacking

The White House said the search for a new permanent director would begin immediately.

"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".

Congressman Justin Amash, a fellow Republican, described parts of Trump's letter to Comey as "bizarre" and announced "my staff and I are reviewing legislation to establish an independent commission on Russian Federation".

"He fired James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is kind of like O.J".

"FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!"

Trump will now appoint a successor at the FBI, which has been investigating since late July, and who will nearly certainly have an impact on how the investigation moves forward and whether the public will accept its outcome.

Still, Democrats immediately pushed to try to ensure the evidence collected so far was preserved.

Comey, in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it made him "mildly nauseous" to think his announcement of the reopening of an investigation into Clinton's emails affected the 2016 presidential election, but he had no regrets and would make the same decision again.

Some Republicans have been angered by Comey's public statements about the FBI investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian Federation.

That is needed to "protect the integrity" of the investigation, the Democrats wrote. Rosenstein has drawn fire from Democrats who allege political motives in the White House decision to dismiss Comey - and particularly, its timing. That staying power, extraordinary for a position that routinely turns over with changes in the White House, lends weight to the reputation he's cultivated as an apolitical law enforcement official.

Comey also violated longstanding practice by "gratuitously" releasing damaging information about Clinton - even as he acknowledged the evidence against her was insufficient to warrant continued investigation, Rosenstein wrote. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina. said in one of the strongest statements from a Republican.

It is uncertain at this stage, although Senator Burr has argued it confuses the investigation.

Trump has ridiculed the FBI investigation, as well as concurrent congressional investigations, as a "hoax" and has denied that his campaign was involved in Russia's election meddling.

In his letter to Mr Comey, he asserted that the FBI Director had informed him "on three separate occasions that I am not under investigation".

Before Comey put himself at odds with Trump by contradicting presidential tweets in which Trump asserted his phones had been ordered tapped by President Barack Obama.

At one point, local news channels sent up their helicopters to track Mr Comey's auto being driven through Los Angeles. "I don't want to start speaking on behalf of the president without speaking to him first", Spicer said, quickly moving on.

"They were fought in the shadows".

Two White House officials said there was little communications strategy in handling the firing, and that staffers were given talking points late Tuesday for hastily arranged media appearances.

"It is essential that we find new leadership for the Federal Bureau of Investigation that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission", Trump told Comey in the letter. "There can be no question that a fully independent special counsel must be appointed to lead this investigation". Schiff and other Democrats said it is imperative that the Justice Department appoint a special prosecutor.

Comey had said in July the Clinton email case should be closed without prosecution, but then declared - 11 days before the November 8 election - that he had reopened the investigation because of a discovery of a new trove of Clinton-related emails. The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Yet they, too, appeared troubled by Trump's decision and wary of the prospect of White House interference in an investigation involving the president.