Richard Nixon Library makes snide comment about Trump on Twitter
Following President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, some on social media claimed -- falsely -- that Richard Nixon did the same thing while in office:
Friendly reminder: Nixon also fired the FBI Director in his day. Time to buckle up, because this ride is about to get WILD. #Comey
— Maggie Katherine (@EmKayBeee) May 9, 2017
Trump's move provoked talk of the "Saturday Night Massacre" in which he fired special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal, Archibald Cox, in 1973. The attorney general and his deputy, Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus respectively, resigned when they refused the former president's demand to fire Cox.
Nixon did not, however, fire his FBI director. The Richard Nixon Library took to Twitter to snidely remark about the notion that he did:
FUN FACT: President Nixon never fired the Director of the FBI #FBIDirector#notNixonianpic.twitter.com/PatArKOZlk
— RichardNixonLibrary (@NixonLibrary) May 9, 2017
"FUN FACT: President Nixon never fired the Director of the FBI," the tweet read. This comes after John Dean, the White House counsel under Nixon, called Trump's firing Comey a "very Nixonian move" according to the Chicago Tribune.
The last president to fire the residing FBI director was actually Bill Clinton. He dismissed then-Director William Sessions six months into his presidency when Janet Reno, his attorney general, said that Sessions "can no longer effectively lead the bureau and law enforcement community."
See FBI directors throughout US history
