Image source: Politico
Mike Pence: A lawyer assisting the former vice president last week found over a dozen classified material at his Indiana residence.
According to people familiar with the case, the lawyer handed the FBI the documents.
Since then, the FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division have taken it upon themselves to review the records.
They are also investigating how the documents got to Mike Pence’s Indiana home.
The news
The confidential documents were discovered at Pence’s home in Carmel, Indiana.
It follows the discovery of private papers in President Joe Biden’s residence and offices.
Prior to the discovery, Mike Pence adamantly contended that he didn’t have any confidential material.
It is not yet clear what the documents are about or how classified they are.
Tuesday night, Pence’s office learned of the documents, and they quickly alerted the proper congressional leaders and committees.
The former vice president asked his lawyer, who was familiar with classified info, to inspect his house out of an abundance of caution.
Last week, during an examination of four boxes at Pence’s home, lawyer Matt Morgan reportedly came across a few documents labeled classified.
They reported their discovery to the National Archives, which then alerted the Justice Department.
The pickup
According to his lawyer, Mike Pence agreed when the FBI requested to move the data that evening.
His legal team sent the boxes back to Washington, DC on Monday and turned them over to the Archives for review in line with the Presidential Records Act.
A small collection of documents were accidentally packed and delivered to Pence’s home according to a letter Greg Jacob’s, Mike Pence’s representative at the Archives, wrote.
“Vice President Pence was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence,” wrote Jacobs.
“Vice President Pence understands the high importance of protecting sensitive and classified information and stands ready and willing to cooperate fully with the National Archives and any appropriate inquiry.”
The boxes
Sources claim that the boxes containing the sensitive materials were kept at Pence’s temporary residence in Virginia before being sent to Indiana.
Even though they weren’t housed in a secure location, the boxes were taped.
Pence’s lawyer stated that there was no indication that the items had been opened.
When the documents were found, they were stored in a safe within the house.
The lawyer said there was an investigation going on at the Washington, DC, offices of the former Vice President’s advocacy group.
However, no further records were located.
Read also: Biden’s documents are the subject of GOP outcries
Biden and Trump
The investigation into Joe Biden and Donald Trump was identical to the one that led to the discovery of classified information in Mike Pence’s possession.
The announcement comes at the same time as rumors that he is preparing to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
When the FBI carried out a search warrant and checked up Trump’s Florida residence in August 2022, Vice President Mike Pence claimed he didn’t keep any confidential material at that time.
“No, not to my knowledge,” said Pence.
In November, he was once more questioned about whether or not he had brought any documents home.
He said that he had not.
“Well, there’d be no reason to have classified documents, particularly if they were in an unprotected area,” Pence explained.
“But I will tell you that I believe there had to be many better ways to resolve that issue than executive a search warrant at the personal residence of a former president of the United States.”
VP residence and White House boxes
Mike Pence’s office through a drawn-out process when he announced his resignation as vice president.
They combed through and turned in each and every document covered by the Presidential Records Act, both classified and unclassified.
Since the majority of the documents and Pence’s personal files were retrieved from locations outside than his residence, they were able to evade the process.
He has a safe space for processing confidential material at his house at the US Naval Observatory in Washington.
Some boxes at the Indiana home were packed from the vice president’s house, while others came from the White House as the Trump administration came to an end.
Effect on Biden situation
The documents found at Mike Pence’s house are the third instance of a president or vice president improperly storing secret information after leaving office.
Currently, special counsels are investigating how Biden and Trump handled secret materials.
According to a source, Pence’s latest findings suggest a systemic problem with the Presidential Records Act and classified information.
On Friday, the FBI raided Biden’s Wilmington residence in search of other crucial records.
The search was carried out by Biden’s attorneys after they found classified papers in his private office in November 2022.
Biden’s lawyers emphasized that they are collaborating with the Justice Department and trying to show how their client’s viewpoint differs from Trump’s.
For Biden’s supporters and administration officials, the news from Tuesday is positive.
“It turns down the temperature on this being a Biden-only story,” said one official.
They voiced the hopes that the Mike Pence documents would demonstrate that Biden’s aides weren’t the only ones to pack secret information inappropriately.
