U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley welcomed the firing of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, arguing that the FBI has lost the public trust and backing up President Donald Trump amid a political firestorm.

He also offered some advice to those protesting the firing: "Suck it up and move on," he said in an interview with Fox and Friends.

Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said Comey’s performance as director “prompted concern from across the political spectrum and from career law enforcement experts.”

“The handling of the (Hillary) Clinton email investigation is a clear example of how Comey's decisions have called into question the trust and political independence of the FBI,” Grassley said in a statement. “The effectiveness of the FBI depends upon the public trust and confidence. Unfortunately, this has clearly been lost.”

Iowa's junior senator, Joni Ernst, offered a more terse response to the firing, which has dominated the news since it was announced late Tuesday and prompted renewed calls for an independent investigation into Russia's election meddling.

In an email to the Register, a spokeswoman said the senator defers to the president on the FBI director.

"Senator Ernst has said the Director of the FBI serves at the pleasure of the president; therefore, this decision was up to President Trump to make," Ernst spokeswoman Brook Hougesen said.

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Grassley plays a key role in overseeing the Justice Department and the FBI. He has been critical of Comey for the past several weeks, repeatedly and sharply questioning his handling of an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

“In my efforts to get answers, the FBI, under Comey's leadership, has been slow or failed to provide information that Comey himself pledged to provide,” Grassley said in his statement on Tuesday.

At a May 3 Judiciary Committee hearing, Grassley grilled Comey on a range of subjects, asking if he has acted as an anonymous source regarding the Russia investigation or ever leaked materials to the media and whether the FBI paid for information from Christopher Steele, the former intelligence agent who compiled the so-called Trump-Russia dossier.

Grassley has also aggressively questioned Comey and the FBI about political activity by Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and about slow responses to questions and document requests by Grassley’s office. With Comey’s removal, McCabe is now the FBI's acting director.

“A cloud of doubt hangs over the FBI’s objectivity,” Grassley said at the May 3 hearing.

U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, a Republican representing northeast Iowa, also supported the firing.

“I think it’s probably time for Comey to go," Blum said Tuesday evening during a town meeting in Cedar Rapids. "The FBI’s been way too involved in politics. Both sides of the aisle. Too political. The president has every authority under the constitution to terminate the director of the FBI. I’m supportive of that decision.”

U.S. Rep. David Young, whose district includes the Des Moines metro, did not offer his own view of the firing, but suggested Comey had “lost the confidence” of lawmakers.

“Clearly, Director Comey lost the confidence of the President, many of those he worked with and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle,” Young said in a statement to the Register. “Now it is imperative the next Director places enforcement of the law and conducting work in a non-partisan manner above all else.”

The state's lone congressional Democrat, though, called the firing an "abuse of power."

"While I have had great disagreements with some of Director Comey's decisions, his firing is an abuse of power and flies in the face of the rule of law," U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack said. "There is no question that we must now have an independent investigator handling the Russia investigation."

An aide in U.S. Rep. Steve King's office declined comment, saying the congressman would be "unavailable for the next few days."