Was Spiro Agnew framed?

Well -- he didn't plead not guilty. Think he might have if he were indeed not guilty.

Nixon would have believed he, Nixon, would have been less likely to be impeached with Agnew, a disliked, outsider who spent his time in office attacking Dems, in office. Dems would havew thought twice about putting Agnew in as Prez, but could accept Ford, a moderate from Capitol Hill where he was personally well-liked.

Note re below: Agnew left a year after Nixon's landslide reelection. Nixon had considered replacing Agnew, but instead kept him on as running mate.

He wasn't framed -- he really was that crooked, and arrogant enough to think he'd get away with it.

Nixon considered Agnew to be a liability to his re-election campaign and, through Attorney General Elliott Richardson, started a JD investigation. In terms of actual evidence on a "set-up", I'm not aware of any--as noted he was convicted for accepting bribes from Maryland contractors and income tax evasion. Nixon offered him the position of Bicentennial Coordinator, which of course he turned down.

Agnew resigned as VP because he was under federal indictment from the state of Maryland for income tax evasion while he was Governor of Maryland in 1967. He pleaded "no contest" and was fined $10,000 and given 3 years probation. Nixon had nothing to do with this. Agnew had been under investigation in Maryland for several years before he was elected VP. Agnew was your typical dishonest politician and it finally caught up with him in 1973.

Agnew was a crook. He was convicted for corruption that took place while he was Governor of Maryland, prior to becoming VP under Nixon. There was not much love lost between them, but Nixon had nothing to do with his trial or conviction.

Plain and simple: HE WAS SETUP.