'There’s a smell of treason in the air': Historian Douglas Brinkley analyzes 'mind-boggling' Comey hearing

Monday's House Intelligence Committee hearing with FBI Director James Comey is still causing shock waves throughout the political world, and historian Douglas Brinkley believes that it's an unprecedented moment in American politics.

Speaking with the Washington Post, Brinkley said he could not ever recall a time when a senior federal law enforcement official publicly confirmed a major criminal investigation into the campaign of a sitting president.

"There’s a smell of treason in the air," Brinkley said. "Imagine if J. Edgar Hoover or any other FBI director would have testified against a sitting president? It would have been a mind-boggling event."

Brinkley went on to say that he has never seen a new president grow so unpopular so quickly, as Trump's low approval ratings combined with the FBI's investigation into his campaign's ties with Russia have created massive storm clouds hanging over his presidency.

"This is the most failed first 100 days of any president," he said. "To be as low as he is in the polls, in the 30s, while the FBI director is on television saying they launched an investigation into your ties with Russia, I don’t know how it can get much worse."