After special counsel Robert Mueller charged two campaign advisers on Donald Trump’s campaign, and secured a plea deal with the president’s former foreign policy adviser for lying about contacts with Russia, most Republicans avoided questions about the developments. “It’s troubling to see such appalling silence by all Republicans leaders,” Perez said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday. “It’s appalling because we are Americans first.”

Perez said Republicans should look to history, and not repeat how their party handled the Watergate scandal under President Richard Nixon. Republicans were too slow to break with Nixon then, Perez said.