Fired FBI Director James Comey invoked murdered Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket on Thursday while describing a request President Donald Trump made for him to drop the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

“When a President of the United States in the Oval Office says something like ‘I hope’ or ‘I suggest’ or ‘would you,’ do you take that as a directive?” Sen. Angus King (I-ME) asked.

“Yes. Yes, it rings in my ear as kind of, ‘Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?'” Comey said, paraphrasing a quote attributed to England’s King Henry II.

“I was just going to quote that. In 1170, Dec. 29, Henry II said ‘Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest,’ and then the next day he was killed. Thomas à Becket,” King said. “That’s exactly the same situation. We’re thinking along the same lines.”