Earlier this week the Trump administration sparked large controversy in firing now former FBI Director, James Comey. The announcement came as both a surprise to the American public and Comey himself, as Trump announced his termination during a press brief.

Comey first came into the public light during the 2016 election when Hillary Clinton went under the infamous private server investigation of emails sent when she was acting as Secretary of State during the first term of the Obama administration. Weeks before election day, Comey announced that the FBI would be reopening the Clinton besides formerly having declared that she and her staffers had not committed a crime.

Trump at the time had commended Comey as the second investigation provided a noteworthy amount of fodder for his campaign that Clinton would later claim was likely a “large component of her loss” in 2016. Given this celebration of FBI at the time, Trump’s firing of Director Comey for his “mishandling” of the Clinton case a few days ago seemed understandably suspicious, especially when the FBI has recently began investigating possible collusion of Trump officials with the Russian government.

One of the most high-profile figures working with Trump alleged to have had contact with the Russians during the election was then Alabama senator, Jeff Sessions. Seemingly coincidentally, Sessions was also reported to have urged Trump once to fire James Comey for reportedly “doing an inadequate job in his current position.”

Hearings were conducted on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to begin searching for an individual to replace Comey.