Classified Documents Were Just Found in Mike Pence's Home, Too

Joshua Roberts/Getty Images Mike Pence

Former Vice President Mike Pence is the latest current or former top U.S. official found to have classified documents at his home.

The documents were discovered at Pence's Indiana home and handed over to the FBI by one of the former vice president's attorneys, the Associated Press reports.

The AP reports that, in a letter sent to the National Archives, attorney Greg Jacob said what "appear to be a small number of documents bearing classified markings ... were inadvertently boxed and transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration."

Jacob added that Pence "engaged outside counsel, with experience in handling classified documents, to review records stored in his personal home after it became public that documents with classified markings were found in President Joe Biden's Wilmington residence."

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Elsewhere in the letter, Jacob said the documents were found in a locked safe at Pence's home, but that he "was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence" and "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 discovery of documents at Pence's private residence comes as Republican lawmakers recently launched an investigation into President Biden's handling of classified documents after some were found at his own private residence.

Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential and vice-presidential records are the property of the federal government, with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) responsible for the "custody, control and preservation" of those materials once an administration ends.

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Classified documents were found at Biden's offices and at his Delaware home in recent weeks, leading Attorney General Merrick Garland to announce the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the storage of the documents.

One day after Garland's announcement, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee announced their own investigation into the discovery of the documents at Biden's home, with Rep. Jim Jordan telling the attorney general in a letter they were looking into the president's "mishandling of classified documents."

The discovery of documents at Pence's home makes the former vice president the second highest-ranking Republican official to have classified papers found at his personal residence.

In Aug. 2022, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., in an explosive moment in the ongoing criminal investigation into whether the former president violated statutes related to national security by allegedly mishandling classified documents he removed from the White House at the end of his presidency.

Special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating Trump's handling of documents since November.

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Since leaving the White House in the shadow of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, Pence has made moves that suggest he might be planning a run for the presidency. That includes the release of his memoir, So Help Me God, as well as recent public appearances in which he says he is "thinking about the future."

Pence has previously said he had no knowledge of having any classified documents from his time in the White House.