Former Dept of Justice officials weigh in on FBI director's firing by Trump

(WJBK) - President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey late this afternoon.

Comey reportedly found out about his termination by watching TV. It comes just days before he was set to testify before a Senate committee looking into any possible connections between Russia and president trump's presidential campaign.

A former US attorney said if it wasn't clear there needs to be a special prosecutor over the Russia investigation, it should be now.

"I've never seen anything like this," Andy Arena said. "The Bureau has never seen anything like this."

Shocking, unprecedented and unexpected - that's how many are describing President Trump's sudden firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy Rod Rosenstein say Comey violated DOJ principles by speaking publicly about the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email servers.

"That was July of last year," said Arena, the former Detroit FBI chief. "This is May of 2017. If he was going to be fired for that reason he should've been fired Jan. 21.

"Either that was the reason he was fired or for the Russia investigation. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but those are really the only two reasons."

The FBI under Comey launched an investigation into the possibility the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the presidential election.

FOX 2: "Many see this as Trump attempting to influence the Russia investigation; do you see it the same way?"

"It's a possibility," said Barbara McQuade. "It's speculation. That's what's in the news and that's what's on the news cycle today."

But former US Attorney Barbara McQuade is confident the Russia investigation won't be compromised.

"The FBI is greater than its director working on that investigation,” she said. “And regardless of who the director is, there are no doubt dozens of FBI agents - career professionals - who are working on that investigation."

Even so, many see the shakeup as a bad omen for the FBI

"The FBI is one of the crown jewels of our law enforcement and it has become very politicized over the last few months," said Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn). "But I certainly hope that whoever is in that position is nonpartisan and very independent and objective.

In the meantime Comey's second in command, Andrew McCabe, will lead the FBI until President Trump picks a replacement and he or she is confirmed by the Senate.