'Saturday Night Massacre': Trump's firing of Comey compared to Nixon Watergate firings

In the immediate fallout from President Donald Trump firing FBI Director James Comey, one three-word phrase has been regularly thrown around on Twitter: 'Saturday Night Massacre'.

The 'massacre' Twitter pundits are referring to is what many considered to be the final blow to President Richard Nixon's administration, when the former president fired Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal that tanked his presidency. That night, the attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned in protest to Nixon firing Cox, and the rest is history.

Now, the comparisons between President Nixon firing the independent special prosecutor who was investigating a presidential scandal and President Trump firing the FBI director investigating alleged collusion between the president and Russia has many drawing parallels.

New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich said on Twitter that the Comey firing "smacks of President Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre."

Connecticut Senator and former attorney general Richard Blumenthal told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that this incident has a similar "feel" to the infamous night of firings and resignations.

Check out tweets comparing the controversial firings below.