As President Donald Trump's story about James Comey's firing continued to unravel, people nationwide held protests Wednesday amplifying calls for an independent investigation into Trump's ties to Russia—and describing Comey's dismissal as a "cover-up."

Roughly 500 people gathered midday outside the White House, demanding the appointment of a special prosecutor to lead "a full, bi-partisan, independent investigation to look into Russia's known hacking of the 2016 U.S. election to benefit Donald Trump, as well as into Donald Trump and his associates' potential collusion with Russia," according to Jo Comerford of MoveOn.org, one of the organizing groups.

Additional actions took place in more than a dozen states Wednesday, including New York, Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri, and Florida.

In Chicago, outside Trump International Hotel and Tower, 29-year-old Cody Davis told Reuters that while he doesn't "have any love for Comey...the reason I'm here today is not that he was fired but because it was so clearly because Trump was afraid of something."

A statement from St. Louis Indivisible, one of two groups that led the "Candlelight Vigil for Democracy" outside the Eagleton Courthouse in St. Louis on Wednesday night, similarly declared: "The simplest explanation is usually the correct one: A cover-up is now underway and the American people can't depend on a largely complicit, Republican-controlled Congress to protect them."

Indeed, Politico reported Wednesday that "Republicans are giving President Donald Trump a pass" for Comey's sudden dismissal, and that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) have "forcefully rejected calls for an independent prosecutor or commission" to take over.

Those protesting outside Burr's Winston-Salem office on Wednesday evening were attempting to change the senator's mind—or at least voice their outrage.