Democrats have repeated phrases like “cover up” in describing the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. They have also repeatedly argued that Trump’s alleged “obstruction” of Congress is “worse than Nixon.”

These arguments are presented as if they spring from the facts of the impeachment case about Ukraine. In fact, Democrats have been using the same talking points for months — long before the Ukraine call.

In May, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) claimed that Trump was carrying out a “cover up” because the administration would not release all of the details behind Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, including grand jury materials that the government was not allowed to provide without a court order.

“We do believe that it is important to follow the facts, we believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States, and we believe the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up, in a cover-up,” Pelosi said, according to The Hill.

Likewise, in April, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told ABC News’ This Week that President Trump’s alleged “obstruction,” as described in the Mueller report — though the White House provided millions of pages of documents, made hundreds of witnesses available, and never exerted executive privilege — was worse than what President Richard M. Nixon did.

Schiff linked Trump to Russia — despite the fact that Mueller found there was “no collusion”:

The obstruction of justice in particular in this case is far worse than anything that Richard Nixon did. The break-in by the Russians of the Democratic institutions, a foreign adversary, far more significant than the plumbers breaking into the Democratic headquarters. So yes, I would say in every way this is more significant than Watergate.

Months later, Pelosi, Schiff, and the Democrats would again use “cover up” and “Nixon” — applying old talking points to new allegations.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.