Who is James Comey and why does it matter that he got fired?

This afternoon, James Comey lost his job as the director of the FBI from the White House. Here’s what we know right now about why that happened.

How many FBI directors can you name other than J. Edgar Hoover? If you say “one,” the answer is probably the most recent: James Comey. However, that’s changed. According to the Washington Post, the Donald Trump White House has fired him.

ABC News posted a statement from the White House to Twitter:

The statement reads:

"“Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office. President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.‘The FBI is one of our Nation’s [sic] most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,’ said President Trump.A search for a new permanent FBI Director will begin immediately.”"

ABC has also posted a letter from Trump addressed to Comey to Twitter:

The letter is one page and has five sentences in the body of the letter. Buzzfeed has posted the letters mentioned from both the attorney general and deputy attorney general to Twitter.

The Post notes that Comey’s recently appeared before Congress, where he misspoke about an investigation into a laptop owned by Anthony Weiner in regards to the possibility of Hillary Clinton’s emails.

However, according to Newsweek, this is just the second firing ever of an FBI director. (And the article does state that it’s possible to fire them.) In other words, it doesn’t happen all that often, and when it does, it’s surprising. Pointedly, as ABC News’ story states, FBI directors serve 10-year terms. That means they’re slightly insulated from politics in general.

Congress, according to Newsweek, will have to approve whoever succeeds Director Comey. With such a high-profile job, the White House may nominate someone quickly. However, said White House has also had trouble keeping its nominees. Just last week, a nominee for Army Secretary actually withdrew his name — and he was the second nominee for that position to do so. Additionally, not all of the Cabinet nominees have been confirmed, either, according to CNN. However, the above statement does note that the White House will “begin immediately” in finding someone else to head the FBI.

At this time, it doesn’t appear as though James Comey himself has released a statement. However, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has, per ABC News. The New York Times also reports that Senator Ron Wyden has done the same on Twitter. 

Next: Sen. Kamala Harris on Wolverine and the ... job market?

It’s an interesting time to carry this out. As of this writing, it’s after 6 p.m. on the East Coast. Beyond that, though, it seems as though credibility seemed to be the main issue, which brings us back to the point we made earlier … at least possibly. This will probably carry over into tomorrow.