In the wake of the abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey, several Democratic Congressmen are comparing President Donald Trump to another scandal-ridden leader: Richard Nixon.
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'This is Nixonian': Democratic lawmakers are comparing the FBI director's firing to the 'Saturday Night Massacre'
To some lawmakers, James Comey's firing was remeniscient of Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre."
In this March 15, 1973, file photo President Nixon tells a White House news conference that he will not allow his legal counsel, John Dean, to testify on Capitol Hill in the Watergate investigation and challenged the Senate to test him in the Supreme Court.
Before his surprise dismissal, Comey had been leading probes into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia during the 2016 election. To some lawmakers, his firing was reminiscent of the "" of 1973, when then-President Nixon unexpectedly fired Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor charged with investigating the Watergate scandal.
"President Trump's firing of Director Comey sets a deeply alarming precedent as multiple investigations into possible Trump campaign or administration collusion with Russia remain ongoing, including an FBI investigation," Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts said in a statement. "This episode is disturbingly reminiscent of the Saturday Night Massacre during the Watergate scandal and the national turmoil that it caused."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut seemed to agree.
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"Not since Watergate have our legal systems been so threatened, and our faith in the independence and integrity of those systems so shaken," he said in a statement.
Nixon's firing of Cox deepened public distrust of the president and contributed to his eventual resignation.
Here are what Democratic lawmakers are saying about Comeys firing:
Even the Richard Nixon Presidential Library picked up on the similarity:
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