The Threat of Violence in the Prosecutor's Office

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Arnie says his bosses, George Bell and Elliot Richardson, took a much bigger risk than he did as an individual. The threat of violence is the thing that you can't not be aware of but prosecutors are not in the position to do anything directly about that., Arnie writes. Jack Smith from what I've seen on TV has real armed security with him because the times are different and he needs it. In 1973, we didn't. We just didn't.

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.