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Agnew's ordeal in court ended ironically with a scene of comic confusion.
As Judge Hoffman left the bench, the bailiff naturally ordered everyone to stand. The sudden movement and noise startled the Secret Service agent who was escorting Agnew out. "Everybody sit down!" he shouted. Some sat down for the former Vice President, but most remained standing for the judge.
Agnew promptly received a letter of condolence from President Nixon praising his services and saying, "I have been deeply saddened by this whole course of events." But within an hour of Agnew's resignation, the White House was dissociating itself from the ex-Vice President. When someone asked an assistant to Press Secretary Ron Ziegler to run off some copies of Agnew's statement to the court, he was turned down. "It's not our statement," the aide said pointedly.
In these strained circumstances, there remained the details of closing down a career. Agnew will retain his Secret Service protection for a time. The Senate voted to keep his Capitol Hill staff on the payroll for another month. Some aides had been with him since the days in Baltimore, and there were tears in the room when they heard the news. Like any man who had just been fired, Agnew cleared out his desk and wrote some thank you notes. And he began working on a speech about the whole affair that he will deliver to the nation early this week, in which he may continue to argue that the evidence against him was the work of lesser men in Maryland trying to save their own skins.
The sudden settlement eliminated the danger of a constitutional crisis if, as expected, Agnew's claim that a sitting Vice President could not be prosecuted had gone to the Supreme Court. The agreement also prevented a decision on a basic issue involving the freedom of the press—the right of newsmen to preserve the secrecy of their sources (see THE PRESS).
At a press conference the day after the settlement, Richardson indicated that President Nixon had known more about the affair than he had let on. In his public statements, the President had said that he could vouch for Agnew's conduct after becoming Vice President. But Richardson said that Nixon early on had been told about the developing evidence that Agnew had received money while Vice President.
Fine Irony. Richardson also explained that Agnew could not be prosecuted by the Federal Government for any of the charges listed in the 40 pages of evidence, but said he could be tried by Maryland's courts—although the Attorney General made it clear that he hoped that this would not happen. And Richardson pointed out that Agnew could be brought to trial in a civil suit by the Internal Revenue Service for back taxes, including not only those dodged in 1967 but for any evaded in other years up through 1972. In addition to having to pay the taxes themselves, Agnew could be charged 6% annual interest and fined up to 50% of the total owed.
Thus, with fine irony, Spiro Agnew's immediate and future need is likely to be cash. With his conviction for a felony, he is likely to be disbarred. Nor can he count on the "defense fund" he was raising to carry on the fight. The donors have been invited to ask for refunds.