Classified Docs Saga Just Got More Complicated with New Mike Pence Find

The controversy surrounding possession of classified documents by former US presidents and vice presidents just became more complicated.

A new FBI search of the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence yielded the discovery of yet another top-secret government record.

Thorough ‘Voluntary’ Search

FBI agents spent five hours searching Pence’s family home on Friday in a “voluntary search.” This was conducted several weeks after Trump’s former veep reported a “small number” of classified papers had been at his home.

The discovery of the additional classified records was announced on Saturday in a statement by Devin O’Malley, an adviser of Pence, as cited by NBC News.

O’Malley revealed that besides the newly found paper “with classified markings,” the FBI agents also found six more pages they took, even though those weren’t marked classified.

He noted the newly found materials were discovered during the “initial review” of Pence’s home by his own counsel.

The former vice president’s adviser said Pence instructed his aides to cooperate fully with the “appropriate authorities” on the matter of classified documents possession.

The report quotes an unnamed source familiar with Friday’s FBI search that said the Justice Department got unlimited access to Pence’s house, but a member of his team was present during the inspection.

The source made it clear the FBI agents were looking for any documents that should have gone to the US National Archives after Pence’s term in office, not just for classified papers. That could explain the removal of the six extra pages of material.

According to the source, Karen and Mike Pence weren’t at home during the search. They had gone to the West Coast where the families of their son and daughter-in-law each welcomed a new baby, the second and third grandchildren of the former vice president.

Pence Just Got Subpoenaed in Another Trump Probe

The additional discovery of classified records at Pence’s home is further raising the issue of former presidents’ and vice presidents’ possession of classified papers.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland, however, appointed special counsels to investigate both former President Trump and current President Biden after discoveries of classified government papers in their properties.

Over 100 records, which go back to his presidential term, were found during August 2022 in former President Trump’s Florida home.

More recently, however, classified papers have been discovered in Washington, DC and Delaware properties used by President Biden. These are from his time as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009-2017 and some are even from earlier, when Biden was a US senator.

The new classified discovery in Pence’s home in Carmel, Indiana comes a day after it was announced he got subpoenaed in the federal investigation into Trump’s alleged effort to annul the results from the 2020 election.

Pence was subpoenaed by Jack Smith, the special counsel who oversees both the 1/6 probe and the investigation into Trump’s classified documents possession.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR