While clearly two different presidents, there are similarities in their conduct, says Russell Riley, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia. Riley says both survived earlier incidents of questionable behavior, only to repeat that behavior. In Clinton's case, there were accusations of infidelity that arose during his 1992 campaign.

Nixon was hardly above using foreign policy to distract the public from impeachment and try to burnish his leadership: As Walter Isaacson writes in his biography of Henry Kissinger, Nixon was “obsessed” with ending the Arab oil embargo, “a coup he thought might bring some relief from Watergate.” Even when the president gave vent to his worst impulses, he was restrained or deflected not just by his seasoned secretary of state, but also by a formidable Cold War-era policy-making machinery and bureaucracy. Although Watergate distracted Nixon from his presidential duties, historian Ken Hughes of the Miller Center told me via e-mail, “It never came close to crippling the functioning of the federal government.”

The National Constitution Center’s initiative, ‘A Madisonian Constitution for All,’ is launching an essay series where leading scholars explore what James Madison, the “father of the Constitution”, might think about the presidency, Congress, courts, and the media today. This week, two of the authors celebrate the launch of the series by diving into all things presidential – how the office was conceived of at the Founding, evolved throughout history, was impacted by the rise of political parties and partisanship, and increasingly expanded its power. They also give their takes on the current impeachment investigation. Scholars Sai Prakash and Sean Wilentz, authors of the ‘Madisonian Constitution for All’ essays on the presidency, join host Jeffrey Rosen. This podcast is presented as part of the National Constitution Center’s A Madisonian Constitution for All initiative and made possible through the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation.

A district judge is ordering former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify in front of Congress, flatly rejecting the administration’s argument that he should have blanket immunity from a Congressional subpoena. Former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne, former Deputy Chief Counsel for the House Oversight Committee Chris Lu, and Stand Up Republic Executive Director Evan McMullin to discuss what this means for McGahn and other key figures like John Bolton.

Ken Hughes, a researcher with the University of Virginia's Miller Center, sees similarities between the 1974 impeachment effort and the present. Recent closed-door depositions of witnesses that led to public hearings before the House Intelligence Committee are comparable to Watergate-era House Judiciary Committee executive sessions held behind closed doors that did not become public for several weeks, Hughes told the Washington Examiner.