President Donald Trump made a head-scratching comparison between himself and the late President Richard Nixon on Friday morning.
During an interview on “Fox and Friends,” Trump explained why he chose not to go on a firing spree amid Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation a la Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre during the Watergate scandal.
“I learned a lot from Richard Nixon: Don’t fire people,” the President said. “I learned a lot.”
“I study history, and the firing of everybody….I should’ve, in one way,” he continued. “But I’m glad I didn’t because look at the way it turned out.”
However, Trump stood by his decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey, saying that the ouster was “very good thing.”
Nixon’s firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973 sparked the impeachment proceedings that ultimately led to the House Judiciary Committee slapping the President with three articles of impeachment alleging obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. Nixon resigned before the House could hold a full vote.
And for all he claims to have learned from Nixon, Trump himself was impeached last December over two of the same charges as the 37th president: Obstruction and abuse of power.
But he insisted on Friday that there was “one big difference” between Nixon and himself.
“I did nothing wrong and there are no tapes,” Trump said.
While there weren’t any audio recordings of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president, the White House’s memo on the call played a large role in Trump’s impeachment–similar to the Nixon tapes.
Listen to Trump below:
Trump says he "learned a lot from Richard Nixon." pic.twitter.com/xgCk2l6Pni
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 8, 2020
