Meddlesome priest

"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" (or turbulent priest) is a cry attributed to Henry II of England, expressing his frustration regarding his conflicts with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170. While not explicitly a call to action, upon hearing this cry, four knights traveled from Normandy to Canterbury and killed Becket. This phrase is now used to express the idea that a ruler's wish can be interpreted as a command by their subordinates.
Origin
The phrase attributed to Henry II, most commonly expressed as "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?", comes from oral tradition and there are multiple versions of the exact words he used. A more elaborate version is "What miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their Lord be treated with such shameful comtempt by a low-born clerk?" The phrase has been cited as an example of the shared history that all British citizens should be familiar with, part of "the collective memory of their country".
Notable usage
Former FBI director James Comey, in his 8 June 2017 testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, invoked this phrase to explain that he took President Donald Trump's statement, "I hope you can let this go" regarding the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn as a directive, even though Trump did not explicitly order Comey to drop the investigation. During the testimony Senator Angus King asked Comey, "When the 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?” Comey replied, "Yes. It rings in my ears as kind of ‘will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?’” King replied, “I was just going to quote that!”

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