Classified documents found in Mike Pence’s home include information documents for foreign visits.

The classified documents found at Mike Pence’s home in Indiana were background reports prior to foreign travel, according to a report Wednesday night.

The documents, about 12, were found on January 16, and on January 18, Pence aides alerted the National Archives.

Sources now tell CNN that the documents had a lower classification than the top-secret documents found at Joe Biden’s Delaware home and Washington DC office, and that the 300 files found at the Mar-a-Lago resort of Donald Trump.

It is not unusual for senior government officials to keep classified documents in their homes, as they are needed for research and nightly reference, but must be turned over to the National Archives once the official leaves office.

Biden and Pence followed the procedure of immediately reporting to the authorities, as soon as the documents were found: Trump dragged his heels for 15 months, prompting the FBI to raid his Florida home to seize the files and confiscate them.

The documents were found at Pence’s residence in Indiana. He bought the house in Carmel for $1.93 million.

Earlier on Wednesday, a top Democrat applauded Biden and Pence’s handling of finding classified documents in their homes, while admitting he was “frustrated” that they had removed the documents in the first place.

“I’m frustrated if someone doesn’t handle confidential secret documents the way they’re supposed to,” Pete Aguilar, chairman of the Democratic Caucus, said at a news conference Wednesday.

“It is clear that some protocols were not followed.”

Aguilar, a Democrat representing California, reflected a growing sentiment on Capitol Hill: Lawmakers feel their rules for viewing sensitive material are handled more carefully than the White House’s.

‘I go to the security center and read documents often. There is a process by which we are allowed to do that,’ said Aguilar.

“There is a process whereby we leave the devices and review that material in a secure environment and then we leave. They are clear protocols.

Aguilar said Biden and Pence handled the document search “as they should: informing everyone and talking to the Archives and law enforcement agencies about what was found.”

“I’m frustrated if someone doesn’t handle top secret documents the way they’re supposed to,” Aguilar, chair of the Democratic Caucus, told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.

Aguilar said Biden and Vice President Pence handled the document search ‘as they should’

He did not address the fact that the public was told about the Pence documents days after they were found, but he did learn of the first tranche of Biden documents months later and after the midterm elections.

“It is clear that the former president did not handle this properly,” Aguilar said, referring to Donald Trump.

‘[He] he blocked all possible pathways where the authorities could leave such material and lied about material possessions. So you see them differently. But I think overall it’s a disappointment,” added the caucus chair.

An attorney for Pence found about a dozen documents with classified marks when conducting a search, at Pence’s request, last week.

The boxes were immediately turned over to the FBI and the Justice Department is investigating.

The discovery came after Pence repeatedly insisted that he did not have any classified documents.

Pence’s attorney, Greg Jacob, said in his letter to the National Archives that the former vice president had “hired outside counsel, experienced in handling classified documents” to review records stored at his home on January 16 “for caution”. ‘ amid the uproar over the discovery of documents at Biden’s home.

FBI agents visited Pence’s residence on the night of January 19 at 9:30 p.m. to collect the documents that had been seized.

The former vice president was in Washington, DC for an event at the time.

According to the letter, a total of four boxes containing copies of administration documents were discovered, two containing “a small number” of documents with classified markings and two containing “courtesy copies of vice-presidential documents.” “.

Arrangements were made to deliver those boxes to the National Archives on Monday.

James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Pence reached out to offer his cooperation with the congressional panel.

“Former Vice President Pence’s transparency is in stark contrast to Biden’s White House staff, who continue to withhold information from Congress and the American people,” he said in a statement.

Republican Caucus Chair Elise Stefanik also drew a stark contrast between Pence’s and Biden’s handling of classified documents.

‘[Pence] showed up and proactively reached out and is following the process,’ he said.

“In the case of Joe Biden, he has had classified documents dating back to his time in the Senate, where he began serving before I was born.

“So this is a long-standing national security threat, putting aside the fact that Hunter Biden also had access to and used as his home address where those documents were improperly and illegally stored.”