Following a report on Friday’s Today show designed to draw “parallels” between the current Russian investigation of the Trump administration and the Watergate scandal under President Nixon, NBC Senior Correspondent Tom Brokaw actually seemed to caution his media colleagues against making too many comparisons. The veteran journalist noted the lack of evidence against President Trump and warned reporters not to assume guilt.

“This morning, a president navigating one crisis after another while a controversial investigation looms over his administration,” announced co-host Hoda Kotb as she introduced the segment. Fellow co-host Craig Melvin chimed in: “If you think we’re talking about recent headlines, think again. Forty-five years ago tomorrow, President Richard Nixon took the unprecedented step of firing the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate cover-up.”

In the report that followed, Brokaw marked the 45th anniversary of Nixon’s so-called “Saturday Night Massacre” and fondly looked back at NBC’s coverage of the scandal, which included some of his own reporting as a young White House correspondent:

In October 1973, President Nixon was under siege, Watergate and more....The White House tapes, potential evidence of a Watergate cover-up. Nixon had been fighting to keep them secret. Now, a federal court ordered him to turn them over, but Nixon had other plans....Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox responded in an extraordinary nationally televised news conference....Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused, and resigned. His deputy, William Ruckelshaus, also refused, and also resigned. Solicitor General Robert Bork was made acting attorney general and he fired Cox....The Saturday Night Massacre triggered a firestorm of protest.

Brokaw added: “The President was forced to back down....But Nixon did not turn over the most incriminating tapes, and he went after the press.” A soundbite ran of Nixon condemning the media: “I have never heard or seen such outrageous, vicious, distorted reporting in 27 years of public life.”

Archival commentary from late NBC anchor David Brinkley was featured:

Our history shows the American people will put up with a great deal, even when the demands on them are outrageous, but they will not put up with anyone who claims to be or tries to be above the law, immune to the rules applying to everybody else. If anyone acquires that privilege, it’ll be the end of this country.

As the taped report ended, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: “It’s incredible to watch the history, and then, of course, you see some parallels.”

Moments later, Kotb asked Brokaw: “What do you think, Tom, just quickly, about the differences between then and now?” He replied:

Well, I think there are big differences. One is that we knew that there were parts of that tape that were very likely incriminating and they were on the tape, the President’s words. We don’t know that about Donald Trump at this point. Does he have – do we have the evidence that is there in some form?

Brokaw went on to defend his reporting in the Nixon era and suggested that media coverage of Trump has been slanted:

So we would be on the air, we would tell everybody what we knew, but we didn’t make judgments about guilt or innocence. I didn’t say at the end of my report, “Yeah, I think he’s guilty.” You know, we would deal with what we had. And we all kind of were a check on one another in the White House Press Corps. You know, “Going too far here, gotta be careful. Check with what I’ve got, hope that it’s true.” And that’s a huge difference, because now the whole country is involved and it’s so terribly polarized, left and right, and it goes on 24/7. So you have very little opportunity to stand back and reflect and say, “Let the rule of law take its place and play it out.”

When even Tom Brokaw is worried that reporters are going too far against Trump, perhaps the media should reassess their coverage.

Here is a full transcript of the October 19 report: