This is just a very short posting of two items.
The first is this report by Digby:
The difference between Nixon and Trump is that Nixon at least had the sense to abuse his power in secret.
On June 27, 1973, former Nixon White House counsel John Dean mentioned that he had turned over a pile of documents to the Senate Watergate Committee and that among them was a set of papers called “Opponents List and Political Enemies Project." […]
— how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.
The "available machinery" included plans to deny them federal grants and contracts and use the IRS and the Justice Department to harass them.
This was the infamous "Enemies List" and it included the names of journalists, senators, House members, certain businessmen and labor leaders, entertainers and Democratic Party donors
Digby then posts several of Trump’s tweets that are in essence the same "enemies list" attack and obstruction as done by then president Nixon
* * *
This is the second report out today:
According to The New York Times, Trump’s tweets, actions and public statements have drawn enough attention that Mueller is now investigating them as part of an obstruction of justice probe.
The president [Trump] not only fired former FBI Director James Comey and admitted to it being tied to the Russia investigation, he’s also employed a disinformation campaign on Twitter.
— slight editing by me
The "machinery” has certainly changed, but according to reports, the methods of obstruction of justice has not for the most part
The investigators did not explicitly say they were examining possible witness tampering, but the nature of the questions they want to ask the president, and the fact that they are scrutinizing his actions under a section of the United States Code titled
“Tampering With a Witness, Victim, or an Informant,”
raised concerns for his lawyers about Mr. Trump’s exposure in the investigation.