Classified Docs Found in Mike Pence’s Home
A tranche of about a dozen classified documents have been found in the Indiana home of Mike Pence, multiple outlets reported on Tuesday.
In a letter to the National Archives reviewed by CNN, Pence’s attorney and liaison to the archives, Greg Jacobs, indicated that a “small number of documents bearing classified markings” had been recovered from the former vice president’s home.
The documents were immediately put into a safe and the appropriate authorities were notified, according to Fox News. The discovery was part of a search, conducted by Pence’s attorneys, of both his home and the office of his advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom. No documents were reportedly identified at the office.
Fox News host Harris Faulkner read on the air from two letters sent Pence’s counsel sent to the Archives, dated Jan. 18 and Jan. 22. The letters indicated that the documents were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to the former vice president’s home. “Pence was unaware of the existence of sensitive, classified documents at his personal residence … and stands ready to cooperate fully with the National Archives and any appropriate inquiry.”
The independent search of Pence’s office was reportedly spurred by the discovery of several batches of classified documents in the home and office of President Joe Biden, as well as at the Mar-a-Lago estate of former President Donald Trump.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed special counsels tasked with overseeing the investigations into Biden and Trump.
In a November interview with ABC addressing the controversy over Trump’s retention of more than 300 classified documents, Pence claimed that he had not kept any sensitive documents following his departure from office. “There’d be no reason to have classified documents,” Pence said, “particularly if they were in an unprotected area.”
In an appearance on Fox Business earlier this month, Pence indicated that he was “troubled” by emerging reports that documents had been recovered from Biden’s home and office. “The handling of classified materials and the nation’s secrets is a very serious matter and as a former vice president of the United States, I can speak from personal experience about the attention that ought to be paid to those materials when you’re in office and after you leave office,” Pence said.
