LIKE a name and a voice summoned from the dim and distant past, the man who was president Richard Nixon’s lawyer, John Dean, has declared that Donald Trump could face “very serious” charges as prosecutors home in on his alleged wrongdoings.

Dean was reacting to the news that Trump’s self-confessed fixer, lawyer Michael Cohen, had revealed that he was interviewed by Cyrus Vance, the District Attorney (DA) of Manhattan, for the seventh time on Wednesday.

“From personal experience as a key witness,” tweeted Dean. “I assure you that you do not visit a prosecutor’s office seven times if they are not planning to indict those about whom you have knowledge. It is only a matter of how many days until DA Vance indicts Donald & Co.”

The DA is looking into Trump’s property dealings and tax arrangements and last month won a ruling from the Supreme Court that Trump had to surrender his tax and financial records.

In an interview with CNN broadcaster Anderson Cooper, Dean, who was the White House counsel that played a central role in the Watergate scandal, suggested the DA and his team were trying a couple of tactics to get to the truth of Trump’s dealings over the years.

“What they’re doing can be a couple of things,” said Dean. “One is the prosecutors are trying to get familiar with the witness. More likely in this instance, because of the treasure trove of information they obtained evidence from a subpoena, is to get guidance and insight into what some of those documents mean, give them more people who might know about various affairs that are revealed by the documents.

“An insider, as I once was, can give insights that prosecutors can’t otherwise get. You’re not going to do this to find exculpatory evidence at this point. They are narrowing the case to see what they will bring against the president and possibly his family.”

At the same time, Trump is under investigation for his calls to Georgia state officials in which he tried to intimidate them into finding votes for his lost cause. Recordings of those calls were made public in the USA on Wednesday.

Dean was reminded of his Watergate days: “It’s a little reminiscent of Nixon leaning on people, in my memory bank, where he knows how far to go but not too far, particularly when he’s on the phone and he knows he’s being recorded on some of those conversations.

“Trump doesn’t know he’s being recorded in this instance. And one of the telling things to me is the fact that these people were recording these calls. As I recall, it was in November, late November that Lindsey Graham denied that he’d had the conversations he’d had with the secretary of state in Georgia who had, in essence, said he called and told them to throw out ballots, and Graham denied that. After that, they started recording the calls. We don’t know how many calls.”

Dean suggested that the Georgia prosecutors may look at so-called RICO racketeering charges for Trump: “RICO cases are very serious. I think that’s the case they’re building. These phone calls that they have multiple records of now are going to be dynamite.”

Trump and his family have denied any wrongdoing.