President Donald Trump said during an interview this week that he “learned a lot from Richard Nixon,” adding “I study history.”
Trump made the remarks during an interview on Fox & Friends Friday, saying “I learned a lot from Richard Nixon, don’t fire people. I learned a lot, I study history. And the firing of everybody — I should have, in one way — but I’m glad I didn’t because look at the way it turned out, they are all a bunch of crooks and they got caught.”
He continued:
“But I learned a lot by watching Richard Nixon, of course there was one difference — one big difference — number one, he may have been guilty and number two, he had tapes all over the place. I wasn’t guilty, I did nothing wrong and there are no tapes. But I wish there were tapes in my case.”
Trump did say, “The one person I did good thing was the dirty cop Comey and when I fired him, the whole thing blew up, they were ratting on each other, they were going crazy, it was like throwing a rock at a hornet’s next.”
Nixon famously fired his attorney general, deputy attorney general and the special prosecutor in a move that is known as the “Saturday night massacre.” It was seen as a breaking point.
He also suggested that if he had not fired former FBI Director James Comey, he would not currently be president, saying, “This was a takeover, this was a takedown of a duly elected President of the United States.”
Hear Trump’s comments below:
Trump says he "learned a lot from Richard Nixon." pic.twitter.com/xgCk2l6Pni
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 8, 2020
Comey was in the news this week after he criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) following the news that the DOJ would not pursue charges against former Trump aide Michael Flynn.
Comey said that the “DOJ has lost its way,” and asked career employees to “please stay because America needs you.”
The DOJ has lost its way. But, career people: please stay because America needs you. The country is hungry for honest, competent leadership.
— James Comey (@Comey) May 7, 2020
Attorney General William Barr defended the move to drop charges against Flynn, who had previously pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
The attorney general explained in an interview “Well, you know, people sometimes plead to things that turn out not to be crimes.”
