September 26, 1973

Pres Nixon appeals to Amer people on Sept 25 to give Vice Pres Agnew 'the basic, decent consideration and presumption of innocence that are both his right and his due,' statement; says Agnew, in morning meeting to which he was summoned by Pres, denied charges that have been made against him; Nixon earlier met with Atty Gen Richardson and Asst Atty Gen Petersen; White House deputy press sec Warren denies Agnew resigned, denies that Nixon asked him to resign and denies that anyone in White House is pressing him to resign; Dow-Jones News Service repts that Agnew did offer his resignation and that Justice Dept had agreed to allow him to plead guilty to 1 relatively minor charge; Agnew's press sec J M Thomson denies rept; says Agnew has decided to cancel Sept 26 speech in Pebble Beach, Calif, to remain on hand for consultations with his attys; says Agnew plans to keep Sept 29 speaking date in Los Angeles before Natl Federation of Repub Women; Richardson issues statement announcing that evidence against Agnew will be presented on Sept 27 to Baltimore grand jury that is investigating charges of corruption; says talks and negotiations with Agnew attys had broken down; White House source says Nixon discussed Agnew situation at length on Sept 24 with his chief of staff A M Haig Jr; illus of Agnew, Nixon, Richardson and Petersen

Justice Dept on Sept 25 asks Fed grand ct to order inquiry into possibility that ITT is attempting to thwart terms of already conroversial settlement of 3 antitrust cases against it; raises question of whether ITT has tampered with assets of 1 of relatively smaller businesses that it was ordered to sell under '71 settlement--Fire Protection Div of Grinnell Corp; divestitute of Grinnell unit was to have taken place by Sept 24 but ITT says it cannot find satisfactory buyer; ITT and Justice Dept nave asked Fed Ct in Hartford to appt J H Goss, chmn of Pantasote Co, as trustee for that part of Grinnell that is subject to divestiture; Goss would also be charged with finding buyer and would be asked to rept on whether ITT had violated portion of settlement that forbade co to take any 'action which knowingly impairs that viability of the Fire Protection division of Grinnell or ITT's ability to accomplish its divestiture'

Convicted Watergate conspirator E H Hunt Jr ends his 2d day of testimony before Sen Watergate com on Sept 25; says, in brief prepared statement, that he still believes his participation in Watergate burglary was under color of approval by sr Nixon Adm officials and, therefore, legal; charges, in earlier testimony, that someone had removed from his White House safe a notebook containing 'names, addresses, pseudonyms and phone numbers of every person that I dealt with' in 'Gemstone intelligence scheme that led to burglary; says he has no idea who took it but that it was taken after burglary went awry; hints that support given him by CIA for various activities he undertook for White House investigative unit, the Plumbers, was not only time CIA violated ban on involvement in domestic activities; denies he ever sought promise of clemency from White House or that payments of more than $156,000, which he recd and passed on to his former atty W O Bittman, was in return for his silence and that of other defendants; illus of Sen Weicker showing photograph of J Buckley to Hunt; Hunt identified photograph as that of 'Fat Jack,' man who had supervised activities of agent planted in campaign hq of Sen Muskie

Skylab astronauts bring back to earth samples of metals they welded in space

The Senate sustained Presi dent Nixon's veto of a bill that would have markedly liberalized the disaster loan program. The vote was 59 to 36, or five short of the re quired two‐thirds to over ride a veto. Page 16.