President Trump Has Fired FBI Director James Comey

Attorney General Jeff Sessions backed the decision.

President Donald Trump has "dismissed" FBI Director James Comey, according to multiple media outlets and a statement from White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer:

A copy of Trump's letter to Comey was obtained by BuzzFeed's Chris Geidner. That letter, which is below, thanks Comey for "informing" the president on "three separate occasions" that he was not under investigation, but it doesn't say why Comey was canned, other than that Trump agrees with Attorney General Jeff Session's opinion that Comey is "not able to effectively lead the Bureau":

MSNBC's Kyle Griffin, however, has posted pictures to Twitter of letterz from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to Trump, recommending that Comey be dismissed for his handling, over the summer, of Hillary Clinton's email investigation:

Here are the recommendations to remove Comey from the AG and Deputy AG—they cite his handling of the Clinton investigation. pic.twitter.com/QzTIfN6nOx

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 9, 2017

The directorship of the FBI is a 10-year appointment, and has been since Congress imposed term limits in 1976. Comey was confirmed in September 2013, and previously served as deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush. The last director of the FBI to be dismissed before their term concluded was William S. Sessions. He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in November 1987 and fired by President Bill Clinton in July 1993, six months after his inauguration.