Former ambassador to the US Kim Beazley believes Donald Trump sacked FBI director James Comey to shut down the investigation into his campaign's links with Russia.
The former federal opposition leader, who served as ambassador from 2010 to 2016, told a post-budget breakfast in Brisbane he was not surprised by the US President's move.
He believed Mr Comey was brought down because the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's Russia links had become a threat to the billionaire's presidency.
"Certainly the inquiry the FBI is currently conducting into the relationship of Trump's campaign team, maybe Trump himself, and the Russians is such that it may have reached the point where somebody would want to be able to appoint an FBI director to suppress the investigation," Mr Beazley said on Wednesday.
"That (investigation) carries the biggest threat of impeachment for Trump."
The President on Wednesday (Australian time) sacked Mr Comey, on the advice of his Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, over his handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton's emails last year.
"While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau," Mr Trump wrote in his letter notifying Mr Comey of his termination.
