Image source, Reuters

Spicer steps aside to give the podium to National Security Adviser HR McMaster. Mr McMaster tells reporters there will be three priorities for President Trump’s first foreign trip next week to Saudi Arabia, the Vatican and Israel: reaffirming America’s global leadership, to keep building key relationships with world leaders, and to broadcast a message of unity to America’s friends and three of the world’s greatest religions.

"Apparently, I was little missed," said Sean Spicer, who makes his first appearance this week.

"A source close to Comey" is still talking.

"If there is a tape, there's nothing he is worried about" that could be on it, the source tells CNN about Trump's threat to release "'tapes' of our conversation".

"It is absolutely untrue that Jim asked to have dinner or that he asked to have his job," the source said. "That is a complete fabrication."  

The BBC's Anthony Zurcher, external says we should expect to see Comey, or associates close to him, try to present his side of the story, as they appear to be already doing.

President Nixon's former lawyer has warned President Trump that if there are tapes of his conversations with sacked FBI boss James Comey, as he hinted on Twitter earlier, he is the one who should worry.

John Dean has previously described Mr Trump as "more Nixonian than Nixon" in his dislike of the media.

Image source, TASS

A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign minister has responded to US criticism that Russian photographers were permitted into the White House Oval Office when US media were barred from the same event.

Critics - including former national security and CIA officials, say that allowing camera crews (and all their equipment) into the White House was a serious lapse in security.

The spokeswoman says that the criticism was "making our correspondents feel like Jews in 1933".

More details about the January dinner that Comey attended with Trump are coming out.

Former national intelligence chief Clapper says Comey was "uneasy" about going because he thought it might "compromise the appearance of independence of the FBI".

But he went because as a serving government officer it was a matter of "professional courtesy" given that the invitation came from the president, Clapper said.

Former national intelligence chief Clapper has told MSNBC that in his opinion the investigation into possible links between Trump and Russia is not "fake news" or a "witch hunt", as Trump has repeatedly described it.

The probe is looking at alleged Russian meddling in the US election and possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.

Clapper said it was a "dark cloud" over the Trump administration and it would be in everyone's best interest to get to the bottom of it.

"The morale in the FBI was very high," says General Clapper, contradicting White House claims that agents were expressing dissatisfaction with life under fired FBI chief Comey.

Clapper has also been speaking about Mike Flynn, Trump's fired National Security Adviser. 

"I personally didn't think Mike [Flynn] had the skill set to be national security adviser," he says.  

Michael Flynn: Former US national security adviser

The former US director of national intelligence, who oversaw most US spying activities, say he does not know if there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Earlier today Trump tweeted that Clapper says "there is no collusion".

Clapper is speaking on MSNBC now.

Washington is in turmoil after Mr Trump fired the FBI Director. What do his supporters make of the move?  

A "source close to Comey" has told CNN that the former FBI director was "taken aback" by Trump's request for a pledge of loyalty during a dinner in January.

The source says, external that when Comey refused, Trump requested that he take an "honesty pledge", which the source adds doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Trump and his team hate leaks and he has already tweeted a warning to Comey not to go to the media. The news that Comey's opinions are trickling out nonetheless may well anger him further.

At time of writing, Donald Trump's morning tweets have racked up just shy of 77,000 retweets combined - and more than 260,000 "likes".

While not all of those retweeting support his comments, there's no doubt the president is getting his message out.

Image source, Twitter/DonaldJ.Trump

Tom Wright, a fellow at US think tank the Brookings Institution, has spotted that the law firm used by President Trump, Morgan Lewis, was named Russia Law Firm of the Year in 2016.

"You couldn't make it up," he says.

Mr Comey was leading an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the US election and possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Moscow when he was fired.

Trump has described it as a "witch hunt".   

"With a few exceptions... your tax returns do not reflect any income of any type from Russian sources," reads a letter sent by Trump's lawyers to him last month.

The letter, which was sent to Senator Lindsey Graham, was released by the White House to the Washington press corps moments ago.

Trump made history during the election by being the first candidate in a generation not to release his tax returns.

Trump's lawyers - Sheri Dillon and William Nelson - describe the "exceptions" as profits he made from the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, a property sold to a Russian billionaire, and other fees received through the sale and rental of products at Trump-owned businesses.

Democrats have taken to Twitter today to voice their amazement at the newslines coming out of Washington this morning.

Image source, Gett

US attorney general Jeff Sessions held a press conference at the Department of Justice earlier today. He refused to answer any questions at the event, where he called upon federal prosecutors to seek harsher criminal penalties during trials.

He left the press conference looking a little tight-lipped. 

US law boss Sessions orders harsher criminal sentencing

Harry Potter author JK Rowling - a frequent Trump critic - has tweeted a passage from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

It's fair to say her message is less than complimentary.

Image source, Twitter/JKRowling

Trump's son, Donald Jr, has come out tweeting in his father's defence.

John Weaver, who was a political strategist for Republican presidential candidate John McCain when he ran against Obama in 2008, has his own Nixon analogy. 

There was no Photoshop in the time of Nixon, either...