The Justice Department's Investigation of Vice President Spiro Agnew

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Ruben Navarrette: Spiro Agnew said he would not resign if indicted. He says in 1973, the Justice Department was trying to bring charges against him for running a kickback scheme from inside the White House. Prosecutors turned up enough evidence to bring dozens of federal criminal charges; but they struck a deal with Agnew that dropped all other pending charges. Navarrette.: The constitutional problems raised by the Agnew investigation are bewildering. We've never had a problem like this one before."

In 1973, in the throes of the Watergate scandal, three young federal prosecutors uncovered a separate criminal scheme being run inside the White House — the sitting vice president, Spiro Agnew, was taking envelopes stuffed with cash in exchange for official acts as an elected official. If Nixon left office, Agnew would be the next President. And so, what would happen if the President was charged with a federal crime? Worse yet, what if he was convicted? Now that Donald Trump has been charged with 37 federal crimes – as he runs again for president — Rachel Maddow and Bag Man executive producer Mike Yarvitz talk with the three Spiro Agnew prosecutors who have the only experience in our nation’s history with a situation like this.