FBI agents change their Facebook profile photos to James Comey – a gesture normally reserved for slain colleagues
Mr Comey wrote a letter to colleagues saying he 'will be fine'
The firing of FBI Director James Comey has reportedly sent morale plunging at an agency already enduring one of its most tumultuous periods in history.
Andrew McCabe, who was the FBI’s deputy director, has now become its acting head after Donald Trump ousted Mr Comey earlier this week. Mr McCabe is due to testify before senators.
Not everyone inside the FBI was a supporter of Mr Comey. But several reports said the way he was treated had left many feeling angry and frustrated. The Daily Beast said at least a dozen agents posted images on their private Facebook pages of themselves with Mr Comey, or else of Mr Comey alone.
The gesture is apparently usually reserved for a colleague who dies in the line of duty,
“The real impact will be the distrust of the agency under the leadership of the new director,” one agent told the website.
“No matter who gets the job, there will be a cloud of suspicion because the President is unpopular with much of the population. That bad faith will make it harder to do my job.”
The New York Times said that another senior FBU official said the president had damaged his standing among agents, many of whom were conservative and supported MrTrump as a candidate.
World news in pictures
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World news in pictures
1/50 25 July 2019
The pack rides in a valley during the eighteenth stage of the 106th edition of the Tour de France cycling race between Embrun and Valloire
AFP/Getty
2/50 24 July 2019
Former special counsel Robert Mueller is sworn in to testify before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the investigation into Russian Interference of the 2016 Presidential Election
Reuters
3/50 23 July 2019
People cool down at the fountains of Trocadero during a heatwave in Paris
EPA
4/50 22 July 2019
Activists burn an effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte, depicted as a sea monster, during a protest near congress. This is to coincide with his state of the nation address in Manila
AFP/Getty
5/50 21 July 2019
Protesters run from tear gas, fired by police, after a march against a controversial extradition bill in Hong Kong. The masked protesters covered the walls of China's office in Hong Kong with eggs and graffiti following another massive rally
AFP/Getty
6/50 20 July 2019
Fans line the streets of Algiers to see the national Algerian football team take part in an open-top bus parade following their victory in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. They were celebrating their second Cup of Nations win, 29 years after their first triumph in 1990
AFP/Getty
7/50 19 July 2019
The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission is celebrated in a 17-minute show, "Apollo 50: Go for the Moon" which combined full-motion projection-mapping artwork on the Washington Monument and archival footage to recreate the launch of Apollo 11
Nasa/AP
8/50 18 July 2019
A pupil from Northlen Primary school sticks a poster of former president Nelson Mandela on a chalkboard, as they mark his birthday in Durban. July 18, marks 101 years since the birth of Mandela in 1918
AFP/Getty
9/50 17 July 2019
Firefighters rush to the scene to put out a fire that spread to parked cars in Jerusalem, following an extreme heat wave
AFP/Getty Images
10/50 16 July 2019
Rescuers work at the site of collapsed building in Dongri area of Mumbai, India
EPA
11/50 15 July 2019
A motorist drives past a destroyed house after a large earthquake that hit Surigao City, in the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines
AFP/Getty Images
12/50 14 July 2019
French Gendarmes remove fences next to a burning portable toilet during clashes with protesters on the Champs Elysees avenue after the traditional Bastille Day military parade in Paris, France
Reuters
13/50 13 July 2019
A recortador jumps over a bull during a contest in a bullring at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain
Reuters
14/50 12 July 2019
Japan's Megumu Yoshida and Yukiko Inui compete in the duet technical artistic swimming event during the 2019 World Championships at Yeomju Gymnasium in Gwangju
AFP/Getty
15/50 11 July 2019
Hot air balloons fly over the city of Igualada during an early flight as part of the European Balloon Festival in Igualada, Spain. The European Balloon Festival has become the most important hot air balloon event in Spain and one of the biggest in Europe
Getty
16/50 10 July 2019
USA's players take part in their champions parade through New York after winning the Women's World Cup at the weekend in France
Reuters
17/50 9 July 2019
The pack rides during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Nancy, France
AP
18/50 8 July 2019
Temple Priest Siva Sri Arumugam Paskarakurukkal and Hindu devotees celebrate the Makorcavam temple festival at Germany's largest Hindu temple in Hamm, Germany
EPA
19/50 7 July 2019
Megan Rapinoe lifts the Women's World Cup following USA's victory over The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon in the final held in France
Getty
20/50 6 July 2019
Manneken Pis is dressed in the overall leader's yellow jersey, before the start of the Tour de France Stage 1
Reuters
21/50 5 July 2019
Sudanese protesters celebrate in the streets of Khartoum after ruling generals and protest leaders announced they have reached an agreement on the disputed issue of a new governing body
AFP/Getty Images
22/50 4 July 2019
Demonstrators burn a national flag in front of the White House during a Fourth of July protest
Reuters
23/50 3 July 2019
Smoke billows and flames propagate across the hillside near houses after the Stromboli volcano erupted in the north of Sicily. It killed a hiker and sent tourists fleeing into the sea
AFP/Getty
24/50 2 July 2019
An orangutan looks out of its cage in the controversial Pata Zoo in Thailand. Located at the top of a department store, the zoo has been controversial for keeping animals in tiny, concrete cages
EPA
25/50 1 July 2019
A protester breaks in to the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong during a protest on the 22nd anniversary of the territory's handover to China from Britain
Reuters
26/50 30 June 2019
Riot police use rubber pellets to disperse LGBT rights activists as they try to gather for a pride parade, which was banned by the governorship, in central Istanbul, Turkey
Reuters
27/50 29 June 2019
A member of the LGBTQ community participates in the Metro Manila Pride parade in Marikina City, Philippines
Reuters
28/50 28 June 2019
Explosive charges blow up the remaining sections of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy after it partially collapsed last year killing 43 and injuring dozens
AFP/Getty
29/50 27 June 2019
A forest fire flare up in Ziltendorf near Frankfurt, Germany as mainland Europe suffers an intense heatwave
AFP/Getty
30/50 26 June 2019
One of the world's most hazardous volcanoes, Mount Ulawun in Papua New Guinea, erupts spewing lava and ash high into the air
AFP/Getty
31/50 25 June 2019
A Russian Soyuz MS-11 space capsule carrying astronauts returning from the International Space Station lands in the steppes of south-east Kazakhstan
AP
32/50 24 June 2019
An aerial view shows a crater on a barley field near Ahlbach. Experts assume that an air bomb of the WWII probably exploded at a depth of several metres as a result of the triggering of the chemical detonator.
AFP/Getty
33/50 23 June 2019
People gather for a protest in Prague, Czech Republic. Protesters are on calling on Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis to step down over fraud allegations and subsidies paid to his former companies
AP
34/50 22 June 2019
Policemen push back anti-coal activists after they entered the open-cast mine Garzweiler, western Germany. The activists tried to reach and occupy the massive open-cast lignite mine in a protest to demand action against global warming, now one of the hottest issues on the European political agenda
AFP/Getty
35/50 21 June 2019
The silhouette of a girl performing yoga on the rocky crest of the Ancient Observatory Kokino on the occasion of fifth International Yoga Day, which is also the day of the summer solstice. The ancient astronomic observatory, located about 100 km northeast of Skopje, dates more than 4.000 years back in time. It is ranked by Nasa as the fourth ancient observatory in the world
AFP/Getty
36/50 20 June 2019
Indian residents get water from a community well in Chennai after reservoirs for the city ran dry. The drought is the worst in living memory for the bustling capital of Tamil Nadu state, India's sixth largest city, that is getting less than two thirds of the 830 million litres of water it normally uses each day
AFP/Getty
37/50 19 June 2019
Several new policemen, of Catalan regional Mossos d'Esquadra Police, throw their caps after their graduation ceremony in Mollet del Valles, Barcelona. A total of 804 new officers attended the ceremony
EPA
38/50 18 June 2019
Rescuers carry out an injured man from an earthquake-damaged building in Yibin, in China's southwest Sichuan province. The toll from the strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake rose to 12 dead and 134 injured as rescuers pulled bodies and survivors from wrecked buildings
AFP/Getty
39/50 17 June 2019
A protester wears a yellow raincoat to pay tribute to a man who died after falling from a scaffolding at the Pacific Place complex while protesting against the extradition bill. People have been demanding Hong Kong's leaders to step down and withdraw the bill
Reuters
40/50 16 June 2019
A fan watches on at the ICC Cricket World Cup match between India and Pakistan at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester
Action/Reuters
41/50 15 June 2019
Nearly 15,000 Dutch people gather in Valenciennes to support their women's football team playing against Cameroon at the city's Hainaut stadium
AFP/Getty
42/50 14 June 2019
A worker attaches a US flag to a mast before fixing it along the side of a road with other Israeli flags in the settlement of Qela Bruchim in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israel's cabinet will meet in the Golan Heights to honour US President Donald Trump and vote on naming a settlement there after him, the prime minister's office announced
AFP/Getty
43/50 13 June 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron walks past the coffins of the three National Society of Sea Rescue (SNSM) ocean rescue volunteers, who died in a storm last week after their boat capsized, during a ceremony in their tribute at Fort-Saint Nicolas in Les Sables d'Olonne, France
AFP/Getty
44/50 12 June 2019
Police clash with protesters during a rally against a controversial extradition law proposal outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong. Violent clashes broke out as police tried to stop protesters storming the city's parliament, while tens of thousands of people blocked key arteries in a show of strength against government plans to allow extraditions to China
AFP/Getty
45/50 11 June 2019
Botswana became the latest country to decriminalise homosexuality, celebrated by activists as a day of "pride, compassion and love."
In the landmark ruling, the southern African nation’s High Court rejected sections of the penal code that criminalise same-sex relations and impose up to seven years in prison
AP
46/50 10 June 2019
A participant of the Koetztinger Whitsun Ride stands with his horse on a street near Bad Koetzingen, Germany. The procession of around 900 riders is one of the oldest Bavarian events
AP
47/50 9 June 2019
Police officers use pepper spray against protesters in Hong Kong. People took to the streets on Sunday to protest a proposed amendment to the extradition law that protesters fear would allow Hong Kong citizens to be unfairly extradited to China
AP
48/50 8 June 2019
A participant dances while holding a large rainbow flag during the Athens Gay Pride. Thousands marched in the 15th annual Athens Pride parade that was dedicated to the memory of a LGBTI activist who died earlier this year after a violent attack. Greek capital's Syntagma square, the venue of violent anti-austerity protests during the peak of the financial crisis, was full of rainbow flags as well as body painting kiosks for the more than 7,000 participants
AFP/Getty
49/50 7 June 2019
A man walks past a billboard showing members of the French women's World Cup football team on the side of a building on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris. The 2019 tournament starts this evening with the hosts playing South Korea
Reuters
50/50 6 June 2019
Canadian's Army officer stands during the international ceremony on Juno Beach in Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, northwestern France, as part of D-Day commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings in Normandy
AFP/Getty
1/50 25 July 2019
The pack rides in a valley during the eighteenth stage of the 106th edition of the Tour de France cycling race between Embrun and Valloire
AFP/Getty
2/50 24 July 2019
Former special counsel Robert Mueller is sworn in to testify before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the investigation into Russian Interference of the 2016 Presidential Election
Reuters
3/50 23 July 2019
People cool down at the fountains of Trocadero during a heatwave in Paris
EPA
4/50 22 July 2019
Activists burn an effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte, depicted as a sea monster, during a protest near congress. This is to coincide with his state of the nation address in Manila
AFP/Getty
5/50 21 July 2019
Protesters run from tear gas, fired by police, after a march against a controversial extradition bill in Hong Kong. The masked protesters covered the walls of China's office in Hong Kong with eggs and graffiti following another massive rally
AFP/Getty
6/50 20 July 2019
Fans line the streets of Algiers to see the national Algerian football team take part in an open-top bus parade following their victory in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. They were celebrating their second Cup of Nations win, 29 years after their first triumph in 1990
AFP/Getty
7/50 19 July 2019
The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission is celebrated in a 17-minute show, "Apollo 50: Go for the Moon" which combined full-motion projection-mapping artwork on the Washington Monument and archival footage to recreate the launch of Apollo 11
Nasa/AP
8/50 18 July 2019
A pupil from Northlen Primary school sticks a poster of former president Nelson Mandela on a chalkboard, as they mark his birthday in Durban. July 18, marks 101 years since the birth of Mandela in 1918
AFP/Getty
9/50 17 July 2019
Firefighters rush to the scene to put out a fire that spread to parked cars in Jerusalem, following an extreme heat wave
AFP/Getty Images
10/50 16 July 2019
Rescuers work at the site of collapsed building in Dongri area of Mumbai, India
EPA
11/50 15 July 2019
A motorist drives past a destroyed house after a large earthquake that hit Surigao City, in the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines
AFP/Getty Images
12/50 14 July 2019
French Gendarmes remove fences next to a burning portable toilet during clashes with protesters on the Champs Elysees avenue after the traditional Bastille Day military parade in Paris, France
Reuters
13/50 13 July 2019
A recortador jumps over a bull during a contest in a bullring at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain
Reuters
14/50 12 July 2019
Japan's Megumu Yoshida and Yukiko Inui compete in the duet technical artistic swimming event during the 2019 World Championships at Yeomju Gymnasium in Gwangju
AFP/Getty
15/50 11 July 2019
Hot air balloons fly over the city of Igualada during an early flight as part of the European Balloon Festival in Igualada, Spain. The European Balloon Festival has become the most important hot air balloon event in Spain and one of the biggest in Europe
Getty
16/50 10 July 2019
USA's players take part in their champions parade through New York after winning the Women's World Cup at the weekend in France
Reuters
17/50 9 July 2019
The pack rides during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Nancy, France
AP
18/50 8 July 2019
Temple Priest Siva Sri Arumugam Paskarakurukkal and Hindu devotees celebrate the Makorcavam temple festival at Germany's largest Hindu temple in Hamm, Germany
EPA
19/50 7 July 2019
Megan Rapinoe lifts the Women's World Cup following USA's victory over The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon in the final held in France
Getty
20/50 6 July 2019
Manneken Pis is dressed in the overall leader's yellow jersey, before the start of the Tour de France Stage 1
Reuters
21/50 5 July 2019
Sudanese protesters celebrate in the streets of Khartoum after ruling generals and protest leaders announced they have reached an agreement on the disputed issue of a new governing body
AFP/Getty Images
22/50 4 July 2019
Demonstrators burn a national flag in front of the White House during a Fourth of July protest
Reuters
23/50 3 July 2019
Smoke billows and flames propagate across the hillside near houses after the Stromboli volcano erupted in the north of Sicily. It killed a hiker and sent tourists fleeing into the sea
AFP/Getty
24/50 2 July 2019
An orangutan looks out of its cage in the controversial Pata Zoo in Thailand. Located at the top of a department store, the zoo has been controversial for keeping animals in tiny, concrete cages
EPA
25/50 1 July 2019
A protester breaks in to the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong during a protest on the 22nd anniversary of the territory's handover to China from Britain
Reuters
26/50 30 June 2019
Riot police use rubber pellets to disperse LGBT rights activists as they try to gather for a pride parade, which was banned by the governorship, in central Istanbul, Turkey
Reuters
27/50 29 June 2019
A member of the LGBTQ community participates in the Metro Manila Pride parade in Marikina City, Philippines
Reuters
28/50 28 June 2019
Explosive charges blow up the remaining sections of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy after it partially collapsed last year killing 43 and injuring dozens
AFP/Getty
29/50 27 June 2019
A forest fire flare up in Ziltendorf near Frankfurt, Germany as mainland Europe suffers an intense heatwave
AFP/Getty
30/50 26 June 2019
One of the world's most hazardous volcanoes, Mount Ulawun in Papua New Guinea, erupts spewing lava and ash high into the air
AFP/Getty
31/50 25 June 2019
A Russian Soyuz MS-11 space capsule carrying astronauts returning from the International Space Station lands in the steppes of south-east Kazakhstan
AP
32/50 24 June 2019
An aerial view shows a crater on a barley field near Ahlbach. Experts assume that an air bomb of the WWII probably exploded at a depth of several metres as a result of the triggering of the chemical detonator.
AFP/Getty
33/50 23 June 2019
People gather for a protest in Prague, Czech Republic. Protesters are on calling on Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis to step down over fraud allegations and subsidies paid to his former companies
AP
34/50 22 June 2019
Policemen push back anti-coal activists after they entered the open-cast mine Garzweiler, western Germany. The activists tried to reach and occupy the massive open-cast lignite mine in a protest to demand action against global warming, now one of the hottest issues on the European political agenda
AFP/Getty
35/50 21 June 2019
The silhouette of a girl performing yoga on the rocky crest of the Ancient Observatory Kokino on the occasion of fifth International Yoga Day, which is also the day of the summer solstice. The ancient astronomic observatory, located about 100 km northeast of Skopje, dates more than 4.000 years back in time. It is ranked by Nasa as the fourth ancient observatory in the world
AFP/Getty
36/50 20 June 2019
Indian residents get water from a community well in Chennai after reservoirs for the city ran dry. The drought is the worst in living memory for the bustling capital of Tamil Nadu state, India's sixth largest city, that is getting less than two thirds of the 830 million litres of water it normally uses each day
AFP/Getty
37/50 19 June 2019
Several new policemen, of Catalan regional Mossos d'Esquadra Police, throw their caps after their graduation ceremony in Mollet del Valles, Barcelona. A total of 804 new officers attended the ceremony
EPA
38/50 18 June 2019
Rescuers carry out an injured man from an earthquake-damaged building in Yibin, in China's southwest Sichuan province. The toll from the strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake rose to 12 dead and 134 injured as rescuers pulled bodies and survivors from wrecked buildings
AFP/Getty
39/50 17 June 2019
A protester wears a yellow raincoat to pay tribute to a man who died after falling from a scaffolding at the Pacific Place complex while protesting against the extradition bill. People have been demanding Hong Kong's leaders to step down and withdraw the bill
Reuters
40/50 16 June 2019
A fan watches on at the ICC Cricket World Cup match between India and Pakistan at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester
Action/Reuters
41/50 15 June 2019
Nearly 15,000 Dutch people gather in Valenciennes to support their women's football team playing against Cameroon at the city's Hainaut stadium
AFP/Getty
42/50 14 June 2019
A worker attaches a US flag to a mast before fixing it along the side of a road with other Israeli flags in the settlement of Qela Bruchim in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israel's cabinet will meet in the Golan Heights to honour US President Donald Trump and vote on naming a settlement there after him, the prime minister's office announced
AFP/Getty
43/50 13 June 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron walks past the coffins of the three National Society of Sea Rescue (SNSM) ocean rescue volunteers, who died in a storm last week after their boat capsized, during a ceremony in their tribute at Fort-Saint Nicolas in Les Sables d'Olonne, France
AFP/Getty
44/50 12 June 2019
Police clash with protesters during a rally against a controversial extradition law proposal outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong. Violent clashes broke out as police tried to stop protesters storming the city's parliament, while tens of thousands of people blocked key arteries in a show of strength against government plans to allow extraditions to China
AFP/Getty
45/50 11 June 2019
Botswana became the latest country to decriminalise homosexuality, celebrated by activists as a day of "pride, compassion and love."
In the landmark ruling, the southern African nation’s High Court rejected sections of the penal code that criminalise same-sex relations and impose up to seven years in prison
AP
46/50 10 June 2019
A participant of the Koetztinger Whitsun Ride stands with his horse on a street near Bad Koetzingen, Germany. The procession of around 900 riders is one of the oldest Bavarian events
AP
47/50 9 June 2019
Police officers use pepper spray against protesters in Hong Kong. People took to the streets on Sunday to protest a proposed amendment to the extradition law that protesters fear would allow Hong Kong citizens to be unfairly extradited to China
AP
48/50 8 June 2019
A participant dances while holding a large rainbow flag during the Athens Gay Pride. Thousands marched in the 15th annual Athens Pride parade that was dedicated to the memory of a LGBTI activist who died earlier this year after a violent attack. Greek capital's Syntagma square, the venue of violent anti-austerity protests during the peak of the financial crisis, was full of rainbow flags as well as body painting kiosks for the more than 7,000 participants
AFP/Getty
49/50 7 June 2019
A man walks past a billboard showing members of the French women's World Cup football team on the side of a building on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris. The 2019 tournament starts this evening with the hosts playing South Korea
Reuters
50/50 6 June 2019
Canadian's Army officer stands during the international ceremony on Juno Beach in Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, northwestern France, as part of D-Day commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings in Normandy
AFP/Getty
They also denied a claim made by White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who told reporters the FBI’s rank-and-file supported the sudden firing of their director
One former senior FBI official, Frank Montoya Jr, said: “People are stunned right now.”
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