To hear it from Donald Trump and his supporters, his prosecution in New York is an unprecedented abuse of the court system for political ends based on the most trivial of charges. Trump, of course, uses far more colorful language to make that point, but even former Vice President Mike Pence — no friend of Trump — says that an “unprecedented indictment of a former president” built on campaign-finance abuses is an “outrage.”
True, no former president has ever been arrested and hauled before a court as Trump was on Tuesday. But there’s nothing unprecedented about holding the nation’s top public officials accountable when they run afoul of the law, even for seemingly trivial violations. Other top politicians have protested almost as loudly as Trump, only to see their careers subsequently go down in flames.
In 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew argued that he was immune to prosecution because of his executive-branch status. Agnew was under investigation by the U.S. attorney in Maryland for corruption-related activities committed while Agnew was the governor of Maryland. Like Trump, Agnew claimed he had been victimized by “scurrilous and inaccurate” allegations based on “the wildest rumor and speculation.” Like Trump, Agnew insisted the news media was out to get him. He wound up resigning after appearing in court to plead no contest to a single count of tax evasion on his 1967 return. No, Agnew wasn’t the president, but he had been only a heartbeat away.
