FBI to Search Mike Pence’s Indiana Home for More Classified Documents

The FBI is expected to search the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence for more classified documents.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the move Thursday, with sources saying the Justice Department is in talks with Pence’s legal team.

Also, CNN reported that Pence’s office in the Washington, DC area would also be searched.

Last month, Pence’s lawyers voluntarily disclosed that documents with classified markings were discovered at the former vice president’s home, immediately after classified documents were found at President Joe Biden’s former D.C. office and Wilmington home, and after that former President Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago was raided by the FBI for missing documents in August.

The documents were discovered by one of Pence’s lawyers, who had been tasked with reviewing his documents at the vice president’s request, out of an abundance of caution.

They were found on January 16, with Pence’s attorney, Greg Jacob. writing a letter and informing the National Archive of the find on January 18.

Jacob asked a senior Archives official for help “collecting and transferring to the custody of the National Archives an additional set of vice-presidential records.”

“The additional records appear to be a small number of classified-marked documents that were inadvertently packaged and transported to the former vice president’s personal home at the end of the last administration,” Jacob said.

“Vice President Pence was unaware of the existence of confidential or classified documents at his personal residence,” the lawyer added.

FBI agents came to collect the documents on January 19, but have not yet reviewed Pence’s documents on their own.

Sources told CNN the documents were ranked lower than top-secret documents found at Biden’s Delaware home and Washington, DC office and the more than 300 files found at the Mar-a-Lago resort. of Trump.

The network reported that the documents were background information materials for foreign travel.

Pence gave Biden some political cover with the admission that he had also taken home classified documents.

Now, part of the narrative is whether there is an overclassification problem in Washington and whether outgoing presidents and vice presidents should follow better packing protocols.

Last week, CBS News reported that Pence’s aides didn’t start packing up his office until after Jan. 6 because Trump insisted it looked like they would all stay for a second term as he contested the election results by spreading claims. fake voter fraud.

For weeks, the Biden White House has been under fire for keeping quiet about the initial discovery of classified documents in the president’s former DC think tank office until after the midterm elections.

After that, additional documents were found at his Wilmington residence.

On Wednesday, the FBI searched the president’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

The new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, said Tuesday that the National Archives was prevented from issuing a press release announcing the discovery of documents in the Biden think tank, just days before the midterm elections.

The Republicans ended up performing disappointingly in the November elections, winning a narrow majority in the House, while the Democrats retained control of the Senate.

On the Sean Hannity show Tuesday night, Comer claimed that either the White House or Attorney General Merrick Garland interfered and that Democrats obtained a political advantage.

“There are only two people who could have given those orders, and that is the Justice Department with Merrick Garland or the White House with Joe Biden,” said the Kentucky Republican. “So, it shows right there that this Department of Justice and this White House are interfering with this.”

Comer made the comments after his panel interviewed National Archives General Counsel Gary Stern.

Stern told members of the Oversight Committee that he could not tell them who gave the order not to release a statement.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has argued that the Biden White House did the right thing by immediately flagging the discovery of documents to the National Archives.

However, the administration did not confirm the discovery to the American people until CBS News reported it.

Republicans, including Pence, have denounced the “double standard” of Biden being able to hand over his documents, while Trump’s Florida home and club were raided.

On a radio on January 10 interview with Hugh HewittPence called the Mar-a-Lago raid a “massive overreach” and a “massive overreaction.”

“But having created that standard and now abandoned that standard when it is discovered that the current president of the United States had classified documents in his possession after leaving office, I think I am simply at a loss for words right now. It’s incredibly frustrating for me,” Pence said.