Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States during Donald Trump’s presidency, is the latest in a string of classified document controversies in the country. A Republican attorney discovered about a dozen secret files at the former vice president’s home in Carmel, Indiana, and turned them over to the FBI, according to CNN.
The search came after similar files were found in President Joe Biden’s private office and residence. However, the new discovery gains strength because Pence has repeatedly said he has no confidential documents in his possession.
There is still no clarity on the themes and sensibility of the materials found. According to CNN, Pence’s team plans to brief the US Congress later on Tuesday (24).
The broadcaster claims the search of the home was at Pence’s request. Some of the documents found in four boxes in the former MP’s house contained confidential material. The Republican attorney then notified the National Archives, which in turn notified the Justice Department.
After that, the FBI asked for the files to be collected, and Pence nodded. According to a letter from his staff to the National Archives, the vice president “was unaware of the existence of confidential documents at his home” and “understands the great importance of protecting” the material and cooperating in the investigation.
Out there
In Trump’s case, several hundred classified government documents, along with thousands of other unclassified papers and photos, found their way to his Florida club and residence in MaraLago after he left office. Some were in boxes in a locked storage closet, and the FBI found others in Trump’s office, including on his desk, according to court documents.
In Biden’s case, what the government described as “a small number of documents marked as classified” were found in a locked cabinet in the office of a Washington think tank, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. The politician used the space regularly after leaving the vice presidency in 2017 and before launching the 2020 campaign.
A subsequent search of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, uncovered another batch of documents the White House said are kept in the garage, in addition to a onepage document “among materials kept in an adjacent room.”
The discovery of a third batch, also found in Wilmington, was published last Saturday (21) by Biden’s lawyers. Six classified papers were found, some from when the Democrat was a Senator, others from when he was Vice President.