Mike Pence says he was not aware of ‘any broad-based effort’ by Trump to declassify documents
Former Vice President Mike Pence has claimed he was unaware of “any broad-based attempt” by his former boss, Donald Trump, to release top secret documents when he left the Oval Office.
The 64-year-old Republican told ABC News he had heard nothing about Trump’s alleged plot, for which a grand jury in Washington DC indicted him earlier this month.
“There is a process the White House goes through to release materials. I am aware that this has happened on several occasions over the course of our four years,” Pence said.
“But I’m not aware of any broad directive from the president. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen; I just — it’s just not something I’ve ever heard of,” he added.
A grand jury in Washington DC indicted the former president in early June, charging him with 37 felonies and his longtime aide, Walt Nauta, with six felonies for allegedly withholding classified documents after he left the Oval Office.
Mike Pence and Donald Trump, pictured here in November 2020, were once two of the most powerful people in the world
Trump is said to have hidden documents in various places at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida
The classified documents were also said to have been stored on a ballroom stage at one point
After months of reviewing evidence presented by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, appointed in November 2022 to investigate the alleged misconduct, the jury felt there was enough evidence to charge him.
Smith’s team alleged that Trump hid 32 documents at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida and refused to return them. All but one of the documents were secret and many dealt with sensitive topics, including foreign military capabilities, military activities or nuclear weapons.
Documents were sometimes stored in various areas of the resort, including a ballroom stage and bathroom.
Smith also alleged that Trump was trying to impede his investigation by directing Nauta to secretly move the boxes containing the documents without Trump’s lawyers or the FBI knowing about it.
But in a shocking twist, Smith came back with an “alternate” indictment, which brought three more felonies against Trump and two against Nauta.
Carlos De Oliveira (pictured center) was a Mar-A-Lago employee who was reportedly ordered to destroy security camera footage at Mar-A-Lago
Walt Nauta (pictured) was charged with six felonies for his alleged role in handling and concealing the classified documents
The replacement charge also added a third defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-A-Lago employee who was allegedly ordered to destroy security camera footage at the resort after detectives tried to obtain footage.
This trial is scheduled for May 20, 2024 in Fort Pierce, Florida, but Trump also faces three more major cases.
Federal prosecutors charged him with allegedly trying to delegitimize Joe Biden’s victory over him in a massive scheme that took place in the two months between Election Day in 2020 and January 6, 2021.
Trump allegedly kept a cache of classified documents even after he left the Oval Office and was not authorized to do so
Jack Smith (pictured in August 2023) has run two of Trump’s most important cases
Trump allegedly orchestrated a campaign that spread misinformation about voter fraud, urged Republican officials to undermine election results in states Joe Biden won, assembled a bogus list of voters, and even pressured Mike Pence to throw out the legitimate results.
The two-month campaign culminated on January 6 when a mob of staunch Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to coerce and intimidate lawmakers.
Trump and 18 of his allies were also accused of plotting to delegitimize the results of Georgia’s presidential election by spreading lies, urging state lawmakers and officials to overturn Biden’s victory and working together to straining to send bogus voters to Washington.
And in New York, he was charged with falsifying company records to hide a payment to adult actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have had a sexual encounter with him.
Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was reportedly a “fixer” and paid $130,000 to Daniels in 2016, for which the former president reimbursed him.
Prosecutors say Trump disguised those payments as corporate legal fees, in violation of New York state law.