A line in President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night echoed one uttered 45 years ago on the same stage by President Richard Nixon: a call for an end to "partisan investigations."
Nixon's statement in his 1974 State of the Union was a call to end the Watergate investigation. Trump did not name a specific investigation, but one look at recent headlines gives some hints – the Russia probe.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Democrats who control the House of Representatives continue to investigate whether members of Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
"An economic miracle is taking place in the United States," Trump said. "And the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations."
After a moment of applause, Trump continued.
"If there is going to be peace in legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just does not work that way," he said, to a more muted applause.
Forty-five years ago, Nixon specifically called on Congress to end investigations into the 1972 Watergate break-in.
"I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end,” Nixon said in his 1974 address. “One year of Watergate is enough."
The investigations did not end. On August 9 that same year, facing likely impeachment by Congress, Nixon resigned the presidency.
Unlike Nixon, Trump's speech seemed to come with a veiled threat -- that the economy would suffer.
In addition to issues of Russian interference, Trump is also facing investigations over possible campaign finance violations related to a hush money payment by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Daniels claims to have had an affair with Trump, which Trump denies.