Story highlights "This is the kind of thing that goes on in non-democracies," Toobin said

He went on to predict Trump would appoint a "stooge" to lead the agency and Russia probe

(CNN) CNN's Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin reacted to news that President Donald Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey Tuesday, calling the move a "grotesque abuse of power" and undemocratic.

"It's a grotesque abuse of power by the President of the United States," said Toobin, speaking with Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "This is the kind of thing that goes on in non-democracies, that when there is an investigation that reaches near the President of the United States, or the leader of a non-democracy, they fire the people who are in charge of the investigation."

Toobin compared the shock move by Trump to former President Richard Nixon's October 20, 1973, firing of Archibald Cox, who was leading the investigation into the Watergate scandal.

"This is something that is not within the American political tradition," said Toobin, speaking moments after the news of Comey's firing broke. "That firing led indirectly but certainly to the resignation of President Nixon."

"This is not normal," he continued. "This is not politics as usual. This is something that is completely outside how American law is supposed to work."

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