Former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home has been found to contain classified documents, the latest in a series of scandals that have highlighted how top-level American officials handle confidential information.
Recently, inquiries into their handling of confidential materials have focused on both US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump, who Pence worked for.
Greg Jacob, Pence’s attorney, disclosed on Tuesday that the former vice president and governor of Indiana had been working with the FBI to turn over the secret documents.
Jacob acknowledged the existence of secret files in Pence’s Indiana home in a letter to the US National Archives last week, claiming that the former vice president was “unaware” of their presence.
Jacob wrote in the letter that Pence “understands the great importance of protecting sensitive and secret information and stands ready and eager to fully cooperate with the National Archives and any necessary inquiry.”
“The additional records” are, according to him, “a limited number of documents with classified markings that were accidentally packaged and sent to the personal residence of the former Vice President at the end of the last Administration.”
Pence previously claimed to have left office in January 2021 with no classified papers, according to the news agency The Associated Press. To my knowledge, he replied.
The information was made public weeks after secret records were found at Biden’s Delaware home and the White House offices at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, DC. Those records go back to when Democrat Barack Obama appointed Biden as vice president.
Robert Hur was chosen as a special counsel on January 12 by US Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into how Biden handled the materials. The White House has pledged its support for the probe, and Richard Sauber, the president’s special counsel, has called the quantity of papers at issue a “modest number.”
More secret documents, including from Biden’s tenure as a US senator, were discovered during a 13-hour search of his Delaware home on January 20.
Jacob, Pence’s attorney, stated that Pence had reviewed his own documents as a result of the Biden case.
After it was made public that documents with classified markings were discovered in President Joe Biden’s Wilmington home, Pence “engaged independent counsel, with experience in handling sensitive documents, to evaluate records housed in his personal home,” Jacob said.
The decision on Tuesday also follows up on an ongoing inquiry into Trump’s preservation of sensitive papers at his Florida mansion Mar-a-Lago.
A subpoena for the return of the classified documents and related presidential records was issued by the US Department of Justice in May. In August, FBI agents searched the Florida estate and found approximately 33 containers containing 11,000 documents, 184 of which had classified markings.
Trump has referred to the search as a “attack” and insisted he is working with authorities. Jack Smith, a different special counsel, was appointed by Attorney General Garland to head the investigation into how Trump handled the materials.
Authorities have not yet decided if criminal charges for either illegal possession of the records or obstruction of justice will be filed in the inquiry.
Despite hostilities between the two Republicans over the former vice president’s refusal to take part in a scheme to annul the 2020 elections, Trump stood up for Pence on Tuesday.
Trump stated on social media that Mike Pence is an innocent man. He never lived an intentionally dishonest life. He must be left alone!
