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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — These are not happy times at the F.B.I. Morale at the country’s premier law enforcement agency plummeted months ago, after James B. Comey, its director, revived the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server in October and plunged the bureau back into the political maelstrom just before the election. Then President Trump fired Mr. Comey on Tuesday, saying he had mishandled the Clinton investigation, and the mood darkened again. Agents said they were stunned that Mr. Trump would fire Mr. Comey in the midst of an F.B.I. investigation into whether any of the president’s associates had conspired with Russia to swing the election in favor of Mr. Trump. Some said in interviews that news of the firing felt like a gut punch. Others wondered whether they would be able to continue the inquiry. One senior F.B.I. official said that the president had severely damaged his standing among agents, many of whom are conservative and supported Mr. Trump as a candidate. Agents were angered by the way Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey, who learned of his dismissal from television reports while he was in Los Angeles. They called it disrespectful. And agents flatly rejected the assertion Wednesday by a White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, during a briefing with reporters that the F.B.I.’s rank-and-file supported the sudden firing of Mr. Comey. A strained relationship with the F.B.I. can make life difficult for a president. The White House relies ... Link to the full article to read more