After hearing on Tuesday that top-secret documents had been discovered at Mike Pence’s Indiana residence, former President Donald Trump praised his former vice president.
“Mike Pence is a blameless individual. Never in his life did he purposely do anything dishonest. He must be left alone!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media page.
At his home last week, former vice president Pence’s lawyer discovered roughly a dozen documents with the marking “classified.” Since then, the FBI has received the materials.
Following reports that secret documents had been uncovered in President Biden’s personal former office at the Penn Biden Center, in Washington, and at his Delaware home, Pence instructed his team to search his Indiana home and the office at his political advocacy organization, Advancing American Freedom (AAF). According to Fox News, no sensitive documents were discovered during the investigation of Pence’s offices at AAF.
The sensitivity level and nature of the material in the documents seized from Pence’s residence are unknown.
Special counsel Jack Smith of the Department of Justice is looking into Trump in relation to boxes of documents categorized as confidential that were found by the FBI during a raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in August 2022. Biden’s handling of secret materials is also under examination by the special counsel.
Robert Hur was chosen by Attorney General Merrick Garland to act as special counsel and take charge of the DOJ’s investigation into Biden earlier this month.
The first classified records were discovered by Biden’s personal attorneys at the Penn Biden Center in early Nov., just before the 2022 midterm elections. In December, Biden’s team discovered additional records kept in the president’s Wilmington garage. More classified materials were found during at least three more searches of the house.
After the FBI performed a formal search of the premises on Friday, the most recent finding of classified items at Biden’s residence was made. Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney, disclosed the results of the investigation.
“The DOJ took custody of materials it determined were relevant to its investigation, including six things made up of classified papers and related materials, some of which were from the President’s time as Vice President and some of which were from his time serving in the Senate. Additionally, the DOJ confiscated privately written notes from the vice-presidential years for additional study,” according to Bauer.
