i respectfully request that the house of representatives undertake a full inquiry under the chargess which have been made against me. after a most careful study my counsel has advised me it bars any prosecution of any kind against the president or vice president while he holds office. this is of course the key point. was the key point. in the fall of 1973, the sitting vice president of the united states spiro agnew was under activeival investigation for a lengthy list of bribery and extortion allegations. he never got to test a theory that a sitting president could not be indicted. he resigned about two weeks after he sent that letter begging to be impeached by the congress instead. but the story of why agnew resigned and the reason he was able to escape criminal charges, it is a fascinating story that s been sitting on the dusty shelves of history for a long time, but that story is episode