The security of classified materials is being thrown into question as former Vice President Mike Pence’s lawyer revealed his lawyers found documents containing classified markings in Pence’s Indiana home.
In a letter to the National Archives, Greg Jacob, Pence’s lawyer, explained that the classified documents the FBI took into custody on Thursday (January 19) had been kept at Pence’s home “inadvertently” after being “boxed and transported” to the residence at the end of the former Vice President’s term.
Jacob asserted Pence didn’t know about the existence of the “sensitive or classified documents” being kept in his residence and only found out about them after last week’s discovery.
Jacob added that Pence understood the importance of protecting such information and was ready to “cooperate” with an “appropriate inquiry.”
The revelations follow the news that President Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Del. home was searched by the FBI, who found more documents in the location that had already been searched twice by Biden’s attorney.
It also comes months after former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was raided by the FBI, who discovered hundreds of classified documents — an act Pence condemned.
But, the discovery also throws Pence, who has previously insisted he followed a stringent protocol when returning classified documents, into the conversation about the alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Pence, who is expected to mount a 2024 Presidential bid, could find his chances severely hindered by the discovery as the revelation gives Trump ammunition against a potential rival, despite him having committed similar offenses.
