“Once again, it’s one step forward and two steps back for a White House that’s shown itself to be completely tone deaf,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. “This puts the whole Russian question on the front burner and turns up the heat.”

The dismissal came without notice. According to reports, Comey first learned he was fired when he saw it on television as he was talking with FBI agents in Los Angeles, where he was due to give a speech.

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Michael McConnell, director of Stanford’s Constitutional Law Center and a former federal appeals court judge appointed by President George W. Bush, called Comey’s dismissal “a foolish decision” that “will simply multiply the president’s problems. At this point, he’s created what likely will be a complete circus in the confirmation hearings of a replacement.”