President Trump appeared to reference the infamous Saturday Night Massacre that featured Richard Nixon demanding the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox during his interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. While insisting that the Constitution gives him the authority to “do whatever I want,” Trump told Stephanopoulos that he didn’t fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller because firings backfired on Nixon. “But I wasn’t gonna fire [Mueller],’ Trump declared. “You know why? Because I watched Richard Nixon go around firing everybody, and that didn't work out too well.”

While the president asserted in the interview that he wasn’t going to fire Mueller, the Mueller report details Trump’s efforts to terminate the special counsel, citing former White House counsel Don McGahn. Trump, meanwhile, claims McGahn lied under oath to the special counsel in order to “make himself look like a good lawyer.”