James Comey Wasn't The First FBI Director To Be Fired By A President

President Donald Trump caused a stir in Washington when he abruptly fired F.B.I. Director James Comey in May — though Comey wasn’t the first F.B.I. director to be excused from the role. President Bill Clinton fired then-FBI Director William Sessions in 1993.

Trump’s move was controversial because Comey was investigating Trump’s associates and their alleged ties to the Kremlin. It was later revealed that Trump may have tried to influence those investigations by leaning on Comey to stop them, even separately asking for Comey’s loyalty.

In a letter to Comey informing him that he was fired, Trump wrote, “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau.”

CNN reports that Comey plans to dispute that statement by Trump in hearing.

These political machinations ultimately led to the Deputy Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor, former F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller, to investigate ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Attorney General Jess Sessions has recused himself from the Russia investigations as a result of being part of the Trump campaign.

Read: James Comey's Height Makes Him Taller Than Most NBA Players: How Tall Are Other Leaders?

Comey will appear Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee to testify on these allegations in what Washington is hoping will be electrifying political theatre.

President Clinton's firing of William Sessions was controversial in its day. (That Sessions has no relation to the current Attorney General.) Sessions was chosen by former President Ronald Reagan and nominated in 1987. Clinton asked him to step down amid an ethics investigation by the Justice Department — and Sessions refused.

"We cannot have a leadership vacuum at an agency as important to the United States as the F.B.I.," Clinton said in a news conference at the time. "It is time that this difficult chapter in the agency's history is brought to a close."

The report filed by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility covered allegations of ethics violations committed by Sessions during former President George H. W. Bush’s term. The report alleged that Sessions had cooked his books in order to avoid paying taxes on the use of an F.B.I. limousine to get to work as well as billing the government for a security fence around his home.

Other issues included arranging business meetings in locations in which he could meet with family members. Sessions was also accused of using F.B.I. planes and cars to give rides to family members for personal reasons that didn’t involve official business. He was also accused of possibly accepting a “sweetheart” deal on his home mortgage.

Read: Did Former Director James Comey Try to Warn The Administration About The Rise of ISIS?

The shock that both firings caused may be a result of the fact that there haven’t been many F.B.I. directors to fire — only eleven (some as acting directors) in total. All of them have been men. The F.B.I. was established within the Department of Justice only in 1908. Even controversial Director J. Edgar Hoover wasn’t fired; he died in office after holding the position from 1924 to 1972.

After Hoover, Congress decided to put a ten-year term limit on the position. Comey was around one-third of the way through his term when he was fired. He was appointed by former President Barack Obama in late 2013.