Trump defiant after shock Comey sacking

The White House yesterday slapped down calls for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations that Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia, after the US president abruptly fired his FBI director.

Trump's shock dismissal of James Comey -- the man overseeing federal investigations into suspected Kremlin interference in the 2016 vote -- has sparked a political firestorm in Washington and plunged his young presidency in turmoil.

Comey himself was measured about the abrupt turn of events in a letter to FBI agents and colleagues, urging them not to be concerned for him.

"I have long believed that a president can fire an FBI director for any reason, or for no reason at all. I'm not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. I hope you won't either," he said.

"It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply," he wrote.

"In times of turbulence, the American people should see the FBI as a rock of competence, honesty, and independence," he added.

Furious Democrats, however, suggested the FBI's work will now be hopelessly tainted and demanded a special prosecutor akin to those appointed during Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal or the run-up to Bill Clinton's impeachment.

"We don't think it's necessary," said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, batting back that demand.

Sanders said the White House wanted the FBI probe -- and parallel congressional investigations -- to continue and to wrap up their work. "No one wants this to be finished and completed more than us."

The White House says Comey's firing was motivated solely by concerns over his handling of the high-stakes probe into Hillary Clinton's emails.

A US official said the president had been "losing confidence" in his FBI chief for several months, and that after watching Comey testify before Congress as part of the Russia probe last week Trump was "strongly inclined to remove him."

The president personally defended his summary dismissal of Comey and rejected suggestions it was linked to the Russia investigation.

"He wasn't doing a good job, it's very simple, he was not doing a good job," Trump told reporters as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the White House chanting "shame on you!"

Trump's comments came shortly after he hosted Russia's top diplomat at the White House, in his highest-level Kremlin encounter since taking office.

Source: AFP