Secret documents found in Mike Pence’s house

WASHINGTON. Secretly marked documents were discovered last week at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana, his lawyer told the National Archives in a letter that is the latest in a string of confidential information discoveries at private residences.

The records “appear to be a small number of secretly marked documents that were inadvertently packaged and delivered to the former vice president’s personal home at the end of the last administration,” Pence’s attorney, Greg Jacob, wrote in a letter he shared with The Associated Press.

He said that Pence “hired an outside consultant with experience in handling classified documents to review records held at his personal home after it became known that classified documents were found at President Joe Biden’s residence in Wilmington.

The Justice Department is already using special advisers to investigate classified documents taken from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, as well as Biden’s home and former Washington office. The department says about 300 documents marked “secret,” including those at the “top-secret” level, have been removed from Mar-a-Lago, and officials are trying to determine whether Trump or anyone else should be charged with illegal possession of these records or in an attempt to obstruct a months-long criminal investigation.

Pence’s lawyer said in his letter that the former vice president “was not aware of the existence of confidential or classified documents at his personal residence” and “understands the high importance of protecting confidential and classified information and is ready to cooperate fully with the National Archives and any relevant requests.”

Jacob said that Pence immediately hid the documents, which were found in a locked safe. And, according to a subsequent letter from the lawyer dated January 22, FBI agents visited Pence’s residence to collect documents.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment Tuesday, and Pence’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an email asking for clarification.

In August, Pence told the Associated Press that he did not take any classified information with him when he left office.

Asked directly if he retained any such information, he replied, “No, to my knowledge.”

In a January interview with Fox Business, Pence described the “very formal process” his office uses to handle classified information, as well as the steps his lawyers have taken to ensure nothing is done to him.

“Before we left the White House, attorneys from my state reviewed all documents both at the White House and at our offices there and at the Vice President’s residence to ensure that any documents that need to be transferred to the National Archives, including secret documents were handed over. So we went through a very thorough process in that regard,” Pence said.