Those who know anything about Nixon know this story: Minutes after Trump’s White House fired FBI Director James Comey, his Attorney General Jeff Sessions toyed with scrapping the entire Russia investigation. Until around 6:30 pm on Tuesday, Comey was heading that investigation. Until around 6:30 pm on Tuesday, Comey was scheduled to testify in front of a Senate hearing about that investigation.

When Democrats asked Sessions about the fate of the investigation, Sessions demurred.

Dem Dick Durbin says AG not saying if will continue FBI investigation into Russia and possible links with Trump associates. @StevenTDennis — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 9, 2017

Sessions is leaving open the possibility of just killing the Russia investigation outright. https://t.co/fexvP1tohX — Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) May 9, 2017

And there’s this, conveyed by Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:

AG Sessions lied under oath about meetings with Kislyak. One way to exert control after recusal is by getting rid of FBI Director. Chilling. — Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) May 9, 2017

For those keeping score at home, this is the part in Watergate where Nixon abruptly fired the special prosecutor looking into his crimes and closed down the investigation. The attempt to quash the charges backfired spectacularly, hastening Nixon’s ouster. Will Trump’s team make the same mistake? Only time will tell.

Trump himself made it clear in his letter to Comey that his firing was related to improperly supporting him during public hearings on the FBI investigation into Trump’s connections to Russia. Trump appears to be unable to grasp that the investigation is ongoing, despite his baffling conclusion to the contrary.

Detail from Trump's letter to Comey. pic.twitter.com/69aWfdffxg — Philip Bump (@pbump) May 9, 2017

Republicans have, even by their objectively low standards, behaved with appalling recklessness in defense of Trump. In the most recent example of party over country, Republican senators attempted to hijack and derail Sally Yates’ testimony about Trump’s actions regarding Michael Flynn and Russia. Ted Cruz was particularly awful. Moments after hearing both Yates and former director of national intelligence James Clapper swear under oath that Trump had been warned that Flynn had opened himself up to blackmail – a major scandal – he tried to turn the hearing into an investigation into Hillary’s emails. Seriously.

The charade is already beginning.

Prediction: every single Republican (with a few tiny exceptions) will fall into line. — Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 9, 2017

The efforts by the GOP to let Trump go un-investigated are what stand out as the great divide between Nixon and now. It’s an open question as to whether there is any crime, nor any evidence, that would be damning enough for Republicans to set aside their own partisanship and greed to take action. What’s more, men like Jeff Sessions have made it abundantly clear that they aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty to keep Trump’s ill-fitting suit and overly long tie clean.

Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images