A five-hour search of former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana on Friday turned up another document with classified markings, adding to the small cache of documents found at the house last month.
After an aide found “a small number” of classified documents on the property last month, Pence’s legal team agreed to Friday’s search by the FBI and coordinated its timing with the Justice Department.
Devin O’Malley, an adviser to Pence, said afterwards that agents removed one document with classified marking as well as six pages without classified markings. Though Pence himself was not present, one of his lawyers remained onsite during the search.
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“The vice president has directed his legal team to continue its cooperation with appropriate authorities and to be fully transparent through the conclusion of this matter,” said O’Malley.
The search came just a day after it was reported that Pence received a subpoena connected to former President Donald Trump’s attempts to hold onto power after losing the 2020 election.
Pence is far from the only high-profile figure to become embroiled in a classified documents scandal. Beginning with a raid on Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago last summer, both Trump and President Joe Biden have been subjected to searches of their properties after being accused of mishandling sensitive material. While Trump dug his heels in and refused to hand back any material, Biden and Pence have both cooperated with the DOJ and National Archives.
Despite Pence’s cooperation, Attorney General Merrick Garland has not publicly stated whether he’ll turning the case over to a special counsel for a criminal investigation, as he has done with Trump and Biden.
Jack Smith, a former federal prosecutor, was appointed special counsel to oversee the investigation into documents found in Trump's possession, while Robert Hur, a former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, is leading a parallel investigation into Biden.
The repeated discoveries of classified documents in the private residences of America’s most powerful politicians have sparked concern over how the government handles sensitive materials.
Read it at The Washington Post
