The White House said its search for Comey's successor begins immediately.
The Justice Department denied that Comey had asked for more resources for the investigation. Even so, Trump's letter dismissing Comey held a stark reminder of another matter. "You are kidding, you are kidding". Democrats - already angry that Congressional inquiries have been hamstrung by Republicans' willingness to defend Trump - anxious that the FBI's investigation may also be in jeopardy "Congressional Republicans can not possibly disagree now: the only fix to this mess is an independent commission with subpoena power", said Brian Fallon, a former Justice Department and Hillary Clinton spokesman.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said the president was "making a big mistake".
Trump, in a letter to Comey dated Tuesday, contended that the director had told him "three times" that he was not personally under investigation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who met on Wednesday with Trump, said it was "humiliating" for the American people to hear that Russia is controlling the political situation in the US.
Trump has attributed his decision to a recommendation put forward by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to terminate Comey. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said the White House was "brazenly interfering" in the probe.
Windows 10 now runs on 500 million active devices
Microsoft also announced Wednesday that both Intel and HP plan to implant Cortana in upcoming devices, but didn't provide any further details.
And warhawk Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said Congress must form a special committee to investigate Russia's alleged interference in the election.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brushed aside calls for a special prosecutor or committee, saying a new investigation into Russian meddling would only "impede the current work being done". Comey's deputy, Andrew McCabe, takes over in the interim. In defending the decision, officials leaned heavily on a memo from Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, that criticized Comey's handling of the Clinton investigation.
The Trump administration said on Tuesday Comey's firing was over his handling of an election-year Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.
In response, Mr Trump tweeted last night that he was watching Mr Blumenthal speak, calling it a "joke".
The ouster stunned Washington and plunged Trump deeper into a controversy over his campaign's alleged ties with Russian Federation that has dogged the early days of his presidency. The 56-year-old Comey, who is popular among rank-and-file agents, was appointed four years ago.
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