The Senate Intelligence committee’s leading Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner, said Wednesday that he has asked former FBI Director James B. Comey, who was fired by the White House Tuesday, to testify before the committee next week.

“My hope is that he’ll take advantage of this opportunity,” Mr. Warner said.

Democrats are hoping Mr. Comey will give them an update on his work at the time he was fired.

Mr. Warner and committee chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, reportedly met Monday with Mr. Comey and urged him to speed up the agency’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Comey was said to have acknowledged the probe was moving slowly.

Mr. Comey was scheduled to testify before the committee this Thursday during an open session on “worldwide threats.”

But acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe will appear in his place, according to an updated witness list released by Mr. Burr’s office.

Tuesday night’s dismissal of Mr. Comey by President Trump has stunned Washington. Mr. Trump has pushed back against criticism of the sudden move, declaring that the former FBI chief “wasn’t doing a good job.” Democrats spent Wednesday calling for a special prosecutor to take over the FBI’s probe of possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Senate Intelligence committee’s investigation into the Russian election meddling is one of several congressional inquiries actively investigating the issue.

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