Classified documents found at Mike Pence’s home

Classified documents have been found at former US Vice-President Mike Pence‘s home in the latest secret paper discovery.

The documents, discovered by a lawyer last week for Mr Pence at his Indiana home, have been handed over to the FBI.

Special counsels are already looking at the handling of classified documents by President Joe Biden and ex-President Donald Trump.

Mr Trump faces a criminal investigation for allegedly mishandling files.

Representatives for Mr Pence sent a letter to the National Archives alerting them to the documents.

The FBI came to the former vice-president’s home to collect the documents, bypassing “standard procedures” and requesting “direct possession” of them, lawyers added in a separate letter.

Under the Presidential Records Act, White House records are supposed to go to the National Archives once an administration ends. Regulations require such files to be stored securely.

A “small number of documents bearing classified markings” were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Mr Pence’s home at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, his lawyer wrote in a letter shared with US media.

The latest development emerged after Mr Pence sought legal help from specialists in handling classified documents “out of an abundance of caution”.

He asked for help “after it became public that documents with classified markings were found in President Joe Biden’s Wilmington residence”, the letter read.

Lawyers found “a small number of documents that could potentially contain sensitive or classified information” which were locked by the former vice-president in a safe.

After the letter became public, Mr Trump quickly came to Mr Pence’s defence, taking to his Truth Social social media platform to say that he is “an innocent man”.

“He never did anything knowingly dishonest in his life,” Mr Trump wrote. “Leave him alone!!!”

Mr Pence had repeatedly said over the last months that he did not believe he was in possession of classified documents.

Earlier this month, he told the BBC’s US partner broadcaster CBS that he was confident reviews of documents in his home were done “in a thorough and careful way”.

Joe Biden previously said he had “no regrets” over not going public before the midterm elections with the news that classified documents had been discovered in his private office.

Six more classified documents were found during a 13-hour search of President Biden’s home in Delaware on Friday.

The president offered access “to his home to allow DoJ [the Department of Justice] to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material”, Mr Bauer said in a statement on Saturday.

Earlier this month, Mr Biden’s lawyers said a first batch of classified documents had been found on 2 November at the Penn Biden Centre, a think tank that the president founded in Washington DC.

A second batch of records was found on 20 December in the garage at his Wilmington home, while another document was found in a storage space at the house on 12 January, his lawyers said.

The discoveries at the homes of Mike Pence and Joe Biden come as Mr Trump faces a probe over his alleged mishandling of documents.

Hundred of classified records were found at Mr Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago residence – Mr Trump and his lawyers resisted handing over the documents until the FBI raided the Florida holiday home last August.

He denied any wrongdoing, alleging that President Biden was being treated more favourably by the FBI.

Document discovery timeline

2 November 2022 – First batch of classified documents found at the Penn Biden Centre, a think tank that President Joe Biden founded in Washington DC,

20 December – Second batch of records found in the garage of Joe Biden’s Wilmington home

12 January – Document found in a storage space at Mr Biden’s Wilmington home

19 January – FBI agents come to Mike Pence’s Indiana home to collect files

20 January – Department of Justice investigators discover six more classified documents during a 13-hour search of President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware.

Source: BBC