The White House says President Donald Trump is weighing up several candidates to succeed the FBI Director James Comey, whom he fired on Tuesday.
The President has been actively defending his decision to dismiss Director Comey, telling reporters that he "wasn't doing a good job".
And a White House spokesman has accused the Democrats of "hypocrisy" for opposing the President's decision months after they demanded Mr. Comey's dismissal.
Meanwhile, a new opinion poll makes grim reading for the Trump White House….as our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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There are moments in the Trump Presidency that even a Hollywood screen-writer couldn't dream up.
Imagine the scene that unfolded on Wednesday….hours after the President had taken the highly unusual step of firing the FBI Director….the man leading the probe into whether links existed between Mr. Trump's campaign team and the Russians in last year's election.
Just as everyone in Washington was talking about comparisons with Watergate, the scandal that forced Richard Nixon from the White House….who do you think showed up at the White House for a completely unannounced meeting with President Trump.
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Yes, none other than Henry Kissinger…Richard Nixon's Secretary of State.
He was on hand to hear today's President justify Tuesday's firing.
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And that wasn't all.
On a day when fresh questions were being raised about the President's relationship with the Russians….the Russian Foreign Minister was at the White House along with the country's ambassador to the US.
How do we know?
Because the Kremlin helpfully distributed pictures of the meeting after US reporters were barred from it…and in every shot President Trump and his Russian guests are smiling like Cheshire cats….certainly doing absolutely nothing to dispel the notion that President Trump is in Moscow's pocket.
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the President's spokeswoman who has often trafficked with what the White House calls "alternative facts" insisted that the FBI Director's demise had nothing to do with the Russia probe.
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But Democrats aren't buying it….although they are at a disadvantage given that for months they have blamed Hillary Clinton's election defeat on the FBI Director and his decision to reopen the investigation into her use of a private e-mail server when she was Secretary of State.
They no longer mention that they once urged the President to fire James Comey.
Instead, Decmoratic Senator Charles Schumer wants the now former FBI chief to come and tell Congress what did he know and when did he know it?
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It's unclear whether Mr. Comey will accept that invitation.
If he does, the stage will be set for electrifying testimony that could infuriate the White House.
But it could also set the stage for what happens next….because it isn't just Democrats on Capitol Hill who have questions about Mr. Comey's firing.
Some senior Republicans are also un-nerved by it….and think President Trump needs to provide a better explanation for his dramatic intervention.
Among them, Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona.
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The White House says President Trump is considering who should fill Mr. Comey's shoes at the FBI.
No decision appears to be in the immediate offing.
Whoever it is will be inheriting a poisoned chalice….and huge pressure to keep digging into a subject about which White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders conceded…..
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But this particular drama isn't over yet.
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