Donald Rumsfeld shut down the ladies of ABC's "The View" while discussing allegations of collusion between Russian and the Donald Trump campaign on Thursday.
Rumsfeld, a former NATO ambassador to President Nixon and Defense Secretary under Presidents Ford and George W. Bush, was asked if he saw similarities in the Watergate investigation and the ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the campaign.
Joy Behar reminded Rumsfeld that he worked for Nixon during the Watergate scandal before he reminded her he was actually in Belguim and knew nothing about the scandal.
Rumsfeld called Watergate a tragedy and said he hoped no other U.S. president would have to resign.
"I don't know that that was a tragedy. He needed to resign. He was a crook," Behar said.
"Do you have strong views on this?" Rumsfeld joked with the View co-host.
"I do," Behar responded, "I see some similarities right now going on. There was a break-in in the Watergate complex. In this case, there was a Russian break-in on the Internet. Similar, no?"
Rumsfeld looked at Behar with confusion, calling her comparison a stretch.
"I really belive this is worse," Behar fired back. "We have a foreign nation interfering with our election. You don't think that's unbelievably sad for this country?"
Before Rumsfeld could answer, the other hosts aggressively jumped on him, asking if President Trump should be impeached.
"I haven't seen any evidence that they have colluded with Russia," Rumsfeld said.
The co-hosts all began to yell "if" at the guest, asking him to answer the question.
"Why do you want to engage in hypotheticals?" Rumsfeld asked. "This man was elected president of the United States. There is an investigation on the subject you have cited, which is perfectly appropriate. Every administration has investigations. Nothing has been concluded."
Rumsfeld attempted to end the discussion, saying "I have a sense you may be jumping to conclusions."
UPDATE: May 26, 9:18 A.M.: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Rumsfeld was Defense Secretary under Ronald Reagan. He served in that post under Gerald Ford.