The president threatened Comey on Twitter just days after firing him in a surprise move earlier this week.

It seems to me that there isn't much more to be gained from exploring why President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey (Russia), whether he had the legal authority to do so (yes), or whether the move is nevertheless a monstrous violation of longstanding norms created to insulate federal criminal investigations from White House political interference (yes).

"This morning, the president tweeted a thinly veiled threat to Mr. Comey", Senator Durbin (D-Ill.) said, "which could be construed as threatening a witness in this investigation, which is another violation of federal law".

The Washington Post compiled a run-down of instances where people have written or spoken about moments where they believed their conversations with Trump were being listened in on.

55-year-old Michael Garcia, an associate judge on New York's highest court, and John Cornyn, the second most senior Republican in the Senate are also said to be in the running.

President Donald Trump's shock dismissal of Federal Bureau of Investigation chief James Comey this week not only unleashed a political firestorm in Washington - it also revealed the discordant sounds emanating from his communications team.

Had the president done this on January 20, the headlines would have screamed: "Day of the Long Knives: Trump Launches Dictatorship by Booting Comey before Lunch".

The NBC/WSJ poll - conducted May 11-13, after Trump's dismissal of Comey - doesn't show a significant change in the president's overall standing. Nearly immediately after news broke of the termination on Tuesday, accounts surfaced that appeared to contradict the narrative emerging from the White House.

"As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with ideal accuracy!" Comey instead told Trump he could count on his honesty, the Times said.

On Tuesday, Sanders said: "Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey raises serious questions about what his administration is hiding".

The White House initially said Trump fired Comey on the recommendation of the top Justice Department officials: Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Rosenstein.

Louis Caprino, who served as an agent for 29 years and now runs a public safety program at Vincennes University in IN, said he did not think the president could now "say much of anything" to mend the relationship. She also was deputy special counsel to the Senate special committee that investigated former US President Bill Clinton's Whitewater scandal.

Trump's announcement that a decision could be made before then comes as the Department of Justice is reportedly interviewing four candidates for the position on Saturday.

This lack of transparency has fuelled accusations that there might be some personal business reason for his campaign pledge to seek warmer ties with Putin if elected. "The time and date are still being worked out", Matt House, Schumer's spokesman, said in a statement.