A “small number” of classified documents was discovered last week at former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home, according to two letters Pence’s counsel sent to the National Archives obtained by NBC News on Tuesday.
The lawyer, Greg Jacob, said the documents were discovered on Jan. 16 after Pence asked “outside counsel” to look for records bearing classified markings following the recent news about documents found in President Joe Biden’s Delaware home.
Jacob, who was a top lawyer in Pence’s vice presidential office and now represents him on matters pertaining to the National Archives, said the team identified a “small number of documents that could potentially contain sensitive or classified information” while reviewing records stored in his personal home.
Jacob said the documents were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Pence’s home at the end of the Trump administration. The former vice president “was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence,” Jacob said.
Pence’s team “immediately” secured the classified documents in a locked safe, Jacob said.
“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,” he said.
On the evening of Jan. 19, after the National Archives alerted the Justice Department to the records, FBI agents came to Pence’s home to retrieve the documents, Jacob said. He said Pence was in Washington, D.C., to attend the March for Life at the time, but “immediately agreed” to the process.
The transfer was facilitated by Pence’s personal attorney, who has experience in handling classified documents and was involved with the Jan. 16 discovery.
News about Pence’s documents comes after records with classified markings from the Obama administration were found at Biden’s Delaware residence and a Washington office he used after he was vice president. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur to serve as a special counsel to review the material. House Republicans have also opened up investigations into the matter.
Garland later Tuesday declined to answer questions from reporters on Pence’s records following an unrelated press conference.
The White House Counsel’s Office said this week that it was reviewing recent requests from House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., related to Biden’s handling of classified documents. The White House also said it was reviewing requests from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
In a statement Tuesday, Comer said Pence reached out to the panel about classified documents found at his Indiana residence.
“He has agreed to fully cooperate with congressional oversight and any questions we have about the matter,” Comer said, adding that he believes Pence’s “transparency stands in stark contrast to Biden White House staff who continue to withhold information from Congress and the American people.”
Earlier this month, Pence told CBS News in an interview that he was “confident” his staff made sure that no classified materials during his time in office remain in his possession.
Prior to Hur’s appointment, Pence also criticized the Justice Department for what he described as a double standard between Biden’s records and the ones found at former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last year. Garland also appointed a special counsel to oversee the DOJ’s investigation of Trump’s records as well as his role in the Jan. 6 attack.
“Whether it be the administration or whether it be the media papering over this, look, it was a massive overreach by the FBI, a massive overreaction this summer to execute a search warrant at the personal residence of a former president of the United States, and I said so,” Pence said during an interview on with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt this month.
“But having now created that standard and now abandoned that standard when the current president of the United States is found to have had classified documents in his possession after leaving office, I think it just, I have no words right now. It’s just incredibly frustrating to me,” Pence added.
In a statement on his Truth Social website, Trump reacted to Tuesday’s revelations by saying, “Mike Pence is an innocent man. He never did anything knowingly dishonest in his life. Leave him alone!!!”
