Classified Documents Found at Mike Pence’s Indiana Home
Discovery comes as President Biden and former President Trump face classified-material probes
WASHINGTON—Former Vice President Mike Pence’s lawyers discovered classified material at his private home, according to a letter his representative sent to the National Archives.
Lawyers hired by the former vice president recently discovered “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently boxed and transported” to Mr. Pence’s home, according to a Jan. 18 letter to the National Archives from Gregory Jacob, who oversees Mr. Pence’s records. Mr. Pence was unaware of the existence of the documents, the letter said.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents collected documents from Mr. Pence’s Indiana home on Jan. 19 at the request of the Justice Department, according to a second letter from Mr. Jacob to the National Archives dated Jan. 22. Mr. Pence agreed to the transfer, the letter said.
Mr. Pence is the third current or former senior executive branch official whose team has discovered classified material in their residence or office. Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped a special counsel to probe the handling of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in Florida. And Mr. Garland assigned a separate special counsel to review how classified material wound up at President Biden’s home and former office.
According to the letters from Mr. Pence’s representative, the former vice president engaged outside counsel to review his records on Jan. 16. When documents that could contain classified information were found, they were secured in a locked safe. The former vice president’s representatives couldn’t describe the material because they didn’t review it once an indication of classification was found.
A spokeswoman for the FBI’s Indianapolis field office, whose agents picked up the documents, referred questions to the Justice Department, where a spokesman declined to comment. The FBI and Justice Department’s National Security Division are reviewing how and why the items ended up there, a person familiar with the matter said.
In addition to the documents collected by the FBI, Mr. Pence agreed to voluntarily provide four boxes of administration papers to the Archives for review. Mr. Pence’s representative delivered those boxes to the Archives on Monday, a spokesman for Mr. Pence said.
In an interview with CBS News on Jan. 11, Mr. Pence said his staff had reviewed all material in his office and home “to ensure that there were no classified materials.” “I remain confident that that was done in a thorough and careful way,” he said.
Tuesday’s revelation, earlier reported by CNN, comes weeks after the White House said that Mr. Biden’s representatives had discovered classified documents at his former office. Mr. Biden’s personal lawyer later said that additional classified material was found at the president’s home in Wilmington.
The first batch of papers was discovered in early November at the Penn Biden Center, a Washington think tank. Additional documents marked classified were found at Mr. Biden’s Wilmington home in December. Then, earlier this month, Mr. Biden’s lawyers revealed that another batch was found at the home.
Mr. Biden and his advisers say they are cooperating with a Justice Department investigation into why the classified documents were found. Mr. Garland tapped Robert Hur, a former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, as special counsel on the issue.
A monthslong effort by the National Archives and the Justice Department to retrieve classified documents in Mr. Trump’s possession resulted in an August search of his property by federal agents. The probe escalated over more than a year to include a criminal investigation into possible obstruction, among other potential crimes.
Mr. Garland tapped a separate special counsel, Jack Smith, a former federal and international war crimes prosecutor, to investigate the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and other matters involving Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump said last year that he would again run for president and Mr. Biden is expected to launch his reelection campaign in the coming months. Mr. Garland pointed to their candidacies in appointing special counsels in their cases. He declined to comment Tuesday on the discovery of documents at Mr. Pence’s home or whether he is considering another special counsel.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, when asked whether Mr. Garland should appoint a special counsel to investigate the discovery of classified documents at Mr. Pence’s home, told reporters: “That’s for the Department of Justice to decide.”
Mr. Pence is also considering a 2024 presidential run and has been traveling the country promoting his new memoir.
The discovery of classified material has also drawn scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said Tuesday that he was open to checking the residences of every recent president and vice president for classified documents.
“What became a political problem, you know, for Republicans, is now a national security problem for the country,” Mr. Graham said.
“I don’t believe for a minute that Mike Pence is trying to intentionally compromise national security. Same thing about Biden and Trump,” he said. “But clearly we’ve got a problem here.”
Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), who is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and is probing the Biden documents, said Mr. Pence had contacted lawmakers about the classified documents found at his home and has agreed to cooperate with congressional oversight.
The Wall Street Journal has reached out to all former presidents to see if they are searching for classified materials. Hannah Hankins, a spokeswoman for former President Barack Obama, declined to answer when asked last week. Angel Urena, a spokesman for former President Bill Clinton, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Freddy Ford, who is the chief of staff of former President George W. Bush’s office, said the former president and his team don’t have classified information in their possession.
“White House staff worked with the Office of Records Management to turn over all presidential records—classified and unclassified—to NARA before leaving the White House,” Mr. Ford said in an email last week. “No presidential records or classified documents were retained by President Bush or his staff.”
Annie Linskey and Sadie Gurman contributed to this article.
Write to Andrew Restuccia at andrew.restuccia@wsj.com and Catherine Lucey at catherine.lucey@wsj.com