WASHINGTON – A lawyer for Mike Pence discovered documents marked as classified at the former United States vice-president’s home last week and turned them over to the FBI, a top lawmaker said yesterday.
Pence “reached out today about classified documents found at his home in Indiana”, Republican House oversight committee chairman James Comer said in a statement, adding that the potential 2024 presidential hopeful had agreed to “fully cooperate” with any congressional investigation.
It wasn’t immediately clear what information the documents contained or the level of sensitivity or classification they had been allocated.
The discovery comes in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden’s private office and residence, as well as allegations that Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump obstructed justice over an FBI probe of a much larger stash of government secrets found at his home.
“Former vice-president Pence’s transparency stands in stark contrast to Biden White House staff who continue to withhold information from Congress and the American people,” Comer added, without mentioning the Trump case.
Pence had asked his lawyer to conduct the search of his home out of an “abundance of caution”, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources, and the attorney began going through four boxes stored at Pence’s house last week, finding a “small number” of documents with classified markings. – AFP, January 25, 2023
