FBI agents found one additional classified document inside former vice-president Mike Pence’s Carmel, Ind., home during a five-hour search on Friday.
Pence agreed to let the FBI search his home following the discovery of classified documents at the property in mid-January. Agents are also expected to search Pence’s Washington D.C. office in the coming days, according to news reports.
“The Department of Justice completed a thorough and unrestricted search of five hours and removed one document with classified markings and six additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review by the vice president’s counsel,” said Pence’s adviser, Devin O’Malley, according to the New York Times. “The vice president has directed his legal team to continue its cooperation with appropriate authorities and to be fully transparent through the conclusion of this matter.”
A private attorney for Pence was at the home while the FBI conducted its search. Pence, a potential 2024 presidential contender, is out of state with family on the West Coast after his daughter had a baby, a spokesperson told CNN Friday.
Jack Smith, a federal lawyer appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate former president Donald Trump’s potential mishandling of classified documents as well as allegations of election interference, subpoenaed the former vice-president on Thursday.
Pence and his legal team had originally disclosed finding about a dozen classified documents at his home on January 16. Two days later, Pence’s attorneys notified the National Archives. Pence’s aides initially searched the home out of caution after the revelation that classified documents had been found inside President Joe Biden’s think tank office and in his Delaware garage.
“Vice President Pence was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence,” Greg Jacob, a representative of Vice-President Pence told the National Archives in a latter obtained by CNN. “Vice President Pence understands the high importance of protecting sensitive and classified information and stands ready and willing to cooperate fully with the National Archives and any appropriate inquiry.”
The Presidential Records Act mandates that all presidential and vice-presidential records must be transferred to the National Archives at the end of an administration.
The discovery of classified documents at Pence’s residence comes on the heels of Garland appointing special counsel Robert Hur in mid January to investigate Biden over his potential misconduct for failing to return classified material to the National Archives. Biden and his legal team alerted the National Archives to caches of classified documents found at the president’s home in Wilmington, Del., as well as the Penn Biden Center, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.
“The extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland said in announcing the appointment of a special counsel on January 12.
“I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity … I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. But under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland added.
The Pence camp was working in close cooperation with Justice Department officials prior to the search, according to news reports.