Republican senator on Nixon-Trump comparisons: “suck it up and move on”

Sen. Chuck Grassley has no patience for these comparison between President Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of James Comey from the FBI and Watergate.

“Suck it up and move on,” Grassley said on Fox and Friends Wednesday morning, when asked to respond to those making Trump-Nixon comparisons.

Trump’s decision to fire Comey has many harkening back to 1973, when President Richard Nixon ordered the firing of a special prosecutor looking into the Watergate scandal. That time, the person with authority to dismiss Archibald Cox, Nixon’s Attorney General Elliot Richardson, refused to carry out the order and resigned himself. But the decision was a major moment in the downfall of the Nixon administration.

It’s left many questioning, is Trump’s decision to fire Comey the first step in the downfall of his administration?

But on that notion, Grassley, the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, currently conducting an investigation into Russia’s influence on the presidential election, isn’t paying any attention to the drama.

So far, most in Republican leadership have toed the White House’s line on Comey’s dismissal. Grassley came forward Tuesday night, claiming Trump’s decision would allow the American public to regain trust in the FBI.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he sees no need for a new investigation — and that a special prosecutor would only slow down the progress already being made by Congress and the intelligence community.

But the news of Comey’s firing has caused some divisions in the Republican Party — with several Republicans coming out in favor of “clarity” on Russia’s ties to the presidential election. Whether these demands will lead to any tangible action is still an open question.

But what is apparent is that the news of Comey’s dismissal has put Republicans in an unusual spot.