I’ve spoken about this before but President Trump’s attempts to derail the Mueller investigation reminds me of President Nixon’s attempt to derail the Watergate investigation.

In 1972 President Nixon was running for re-election, and in the early hours of June 17, five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters. Nobody believes President Nixon knew about the burglary in advance but within a few days he huddled with his chief of staff Bob Haldeman to plan to bribe these defendants to plead guilty and not implicate anyone else.

It didn’t work and in May of 1973 Archibald Cox was appointed special prosecutor. While President Nixon publicly supported Mr. Cox, he privately seethed as he believed Mr. Cox “had it out for him.” On October 23, 1973 President Nixon had enough had Mr. Cox fired. It’s generally assumed that this drove the final nail in the coffin of President Nixon’s Presidency and he resigned on August 7, 1974.

None of this would have happened had it not been found out that the Oval Office was equipped with a secret taping system; we all learned this on July 13, 1973 when Alexander Butterfield told us. President Nixon then attempted to prevent anyone from hearing these tapes. He claimed Executive Privilege.

But here’s the thing: President Nixon didn’t attempt to block release of the tapes out of respect for his office. He tried to block their release because he knew his own words would point to his guilt.

President Trump, I believe we’re revisiting history. Your claim of conflicts of interest with the Mueller investigation has nothing to do with conflict of interest. Instead it has everything to do with your fear that there is something here that will end your presidency. I believe that you told Russia that if they would disrupt the 2016 election and make you President you would end sanctions over their invasion of Ukraine.

President Nixon didn’t resign because he admitted his guilt. He resigned because he recognized that he would be impeached and removed from office. You can save all of us a great deal of time by resigning now and saving all of us the trouble.

Seriously, call me.