Word: agnew
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...seemed to Agnew's advantage to try to delay the grand jury as much as possible. Last week his lawyers filed for a court order that, among other things, would quash the grand jury action on the grounds that "the Constitution forbids that the Vice President be indicted or tried in any criminal court...
...Supreme Court ruled that Agnew could be prosecuted despite his office, the trial could begin in late January. By ringingly asserting to the G.O.P. women last week that he would not resign if indicted, Agnew was going against the spirit of Nixon's own promise, made at the outset of the Watergate investigations, that he would demand the resignation of anyone indicted. Since he, like Nixon, is elected, Agnew could theoretically get away with it, although regardless of his present pledge not to quit, the pressure on him to do so would be overwhelming. If he were convicted and still...
Hounded Cut. If, on the other hand, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does indeed protect Agnew from prosecution, the Department of Justice would deliver its evidence to the House of Representatives. If the acts in the indictment occurred after Agnew became Vice President, the House would undoubtedly impeach him. But if they took place before he assumed office, the House might follow the Colfax precedent. In 1872 the House decided not to start impeachment proceedings against Vice President Schuyler Colfax for acts he bid allegedly committed before being elected, arguing that he could be impeached only for misdeeds...
That, of course, is precisely what Agnew seems convinced the Justice Department is trying to do. At the same time that his attorneys asked Judge Hoffman to stop the grand jury proceedings, they also asked him to forbid Richardson, Beall and "all officials of the U.S. Department of Justice" from giving out any information on the case. If the Justice officials denied leaking material, the lawyers asked for a full hearing to "determine the truth." The rationale of Agnew's attorneys was that the department was involved in a plot "to drive the Vice President from office...
Until those harsh accusations were filed with the judge, Richardson had kept his own counsel on charges from Agnew's office that he was out to get the Vice President. The situation had its private delicacies as well as formal proprieties, since Agnew and Richard son are old antagonists. Agnew followers have never forgiven Richardson for using his voice in the Massachusetts delegation at the 1968 Republican Convention in order to prevent the Vice President's unanimous nomination. But with the Agnew attack a matter of record, Richardson lashed back. Agnew's charges, he said, were "patently ridiculous...