On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence informed Congress that he discovered documents with classified markings located in his Carmel, Indiana, home on January 16, dating back to his time as vice president.
After the revelations of the discovery of classified documents from President Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president of the U.S. were found at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and his Wilmington, Delaware, home, the vice president’s team also conducted more searches of Pence’s Indiana home as well as the office of his Advancing American Freedom, a political advocacy group.
According to Pence’s team, the former vice president informed the National Archives on January 18 of a minute number of potentially classified documents in two small boxes.
An additional two boxes contained copies of papers from his vice presidency. Per standard procedure, the National Archives then informed the FBI.
Greg Jacob, Pence’s attorney, wrote on January 18 to Acting Director Kate Dillon McClure of the White House Liaison National Archives and Records Administration to notify her of the papers “containing classified markings.”
After the documents marked classified were discovered, they were immediately put into a locked safe, according to the Pence team.
FBI gathered documents from Pence’s home Thursday evening
The FBI gathered the documents from Pence’s Carmel, Indiana, home Thursday evening, January 19. The vice president was in Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life when the FBI collected the documents.
Former vice president Pence’s team said that though the documents have classified markings, the Department of Justice (DOJ) or another agency that issues the documents will need to make the final call on whether the documents are considered classified or not.
According to Greg Jacob, Pence’s attorney, in a letter to William “Jay” Bosanko of the National Archives and Records Administration, Chief Operating Officer, dated January 22, the DOJ departed from its standard procedures departed from the direction it gave Biden’s camp, requesting direct possession of the documents on January 19.
Additional documents not found to be potentially classified were driven from Indiana to the National Archives, located in Washington, D.C. No records were located in Pence’s Advancing American Freedom office.
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Republican James Comer of Kentucky, was notified by the former vice president’s team Tuesday of the discovery of classified documents at his residence. Special counsels have already been appointed to look into handling classified documents by former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
The most recent development emerged after Pence sought legal help from specialists in how to handle classified documents “out of an abundance of caution.”
He consulted specialists “after it became public that documents with classified markings were found in President Joe Biden’s Wilmington residence,” read the letter. Discoveries at the homes of Joe Biden and Mike Pence come as former President Donald Trump also faces a probe over mishandling of documents.
Classified records were seized from Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago residence after an FBI raid in August. Trump denied any wrongdoing and alleged President Biden had been treated more favorably.
