American President Donald Trump’s decision to dismiss the FBI director led to calls for an independent investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. James Comey, the dismissed FBI director, had told Congress his agency is investigating if people connected to Trump’s presidential campaign played a part in Russian election interference. Some Democrats said the firing of Comey reminded them of President Richard Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” in 1973. That is when Nixon ordered the firing of Archibald Cox. Cox was leading the investigation into a break-in at Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. “Not since Watergate have our legal systems been so threatened” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut. Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that the president showed “strong and decisive” leadership and that the dismissal had nothing to do with the Russian investigation. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said dismissing the person overseeing the Russian investigation requires an independent prosecutor. Failure to do so, he said, means, “Every American will rightly suspect that the decision to fire Director Comey was part of a cover-up.”