Pence Turns in Classified Documents Found in His Home
Documents marked as classified were discovered at former US Vice President Pence’s home in Indiana last week, which he has turned over to the FBI
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Facts
- Documents marked as classified were discovered at former US Vice President Pence’s home in Indiana last week, which he has turned over to the FBI. Possession of classified documents has been a major story as both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are steeped in a controversy surrounding their handling of documents.
- Pence’s attorney informed the National Archives that the former vice president had a small number of potentially classified documents on Jan. 18. The Archives then informed the FBI who collected the documents on Jan. 19.
- Amid ongoing investigations into Trump and Biden’s handling of classified documents, Pence asked his lawyer to conduct a search of his home for documents with classified markings. Pence had previously and repeatedly claimed he did not possess any classified documents.
- Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, wrote a letter on Jan. 22 confirming that the documents have been collected. A total of four boxes containing Trump administration-era papers were discovered with a “small number” of papers bearing classified markings.
- Jacob added that materials may have been “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Pence’s home and the former vice president was “unaware” of their existence.
- Some analysts believe that Pence’s discovery may ease the magnitude of the political fallout from Trump and Biden’s handling of classified documents. Both are likely to run for office in 2024 and have been negatively impacted by the investigations into the issue.
Sources: Reuters, FOX News, CNN, Associated press, Abc and Reuters.
Narratives
- Republican narrative, as provided by Fox news. Unlike President Biden who is under investigation for mishandling classified documents from his tenure as vice president, Mike Pence has been transparent in how he has dealt with returning classified material. Joe Biden is intent on hiding information from the American people while Pence looks to quickly remedy any potential error in his handling of materials from his vice presidency.
- Democratic narrative, as provided by Dailybeast. Despite emphatically declaring that he did not possess any classified materials, Mike Pence is now backtracking and handing in materials that he claimed not to possess. Pence sees the severe consequences of mishandling classified documents, but now there must be an investigation into the reason he possessed them in the first place. This appears to be a large issue dating to the Trump administration.
