Former US Vice-President Mike Pence’s home has been found to contain classified documents, marking the latest instance of top-level government officials’ homes being found to have classified documents.
The materials, which were found by Mr. Pence’s attorney last week at his Indiana residence, have been given to the FBI.
Investigators are already looking into the possession of documents by Vice President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Because of potential paper handling violations, Mr. Trump is under criminal investigation.
Representatives for Mr. Pence informed the National Archives of the materials in a letter.
Lawyers said in a second letter that the FBI went to the former vice president’s residence to acquire the documents, circumventing “standard procedures” and asking for “direct possession” of them.
The Presidential Records Act mandates that after an administration is over, White House records be transferred to the National Archives. Such files must be securely stored in accordance with regulations.
At the conclusion of Mr. Trump’s presidency, a “small number of documents bearing classified markings” were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Mr. Pence’s residence, according to a letter from his attorney made public to US media.
The most recent development came to light after Mr. Pence “out of an abundance of caution” sought legal advice from experts in handling confidential documents.
The letter stated that he requested assistance “after it became public that documents with classified markings were found in President Joe Biden’s Wilmington residence”
The former vice president had locked up “a small number of documents that could potentially contain sensitive or classified information” in a safe, which was where lawyers discovered them.
The documents were kept in boxes in an unsecure location of Mr. Pence’s house, an assistant to the vice president told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. They were taped shut, the aide claimed.
The records are reportedly thought to have originally been brought to Mr. Pence’s Virginia home before being sent to Indiana, according to US media.
After the letter was made public, Mr. Trump defended Mr. Pence, calling him “an innocent man” on his Truth Social social media platform.
“He never did anything knowingly dishonest in his life,” Mr Trump wrote. “Leave him alone!!!”
Over the past few months, Mr. Pence has made it clear time and time again that he didn’t think he was in possession of any sensitive information.
He assured CBS earlier this month that reviews of the documents in his home had been completed “in a thorough and careful way”.
Prior to the midterm elections, Mr. Biden previously stated that he had “no regrets” about holding off on disclosing that secret documents had been found in his office.
President Biden’s Delaware residence was searched for thirteen hours on Friday, and six additional secret documents were discovered, according to a statement made on Saturday by his attorney, Bob Bauer.
It is thought that the records discovered so far are connected to Mr. Biden’s eight years serving as vice president under former President Barack Obama.
Mr Biden offered access “to his home to allow DoJ [the Department of Justice] to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material”, Mr Bauer added.
The Penn Biden Center, a Washington, DC-based think tank that the president created, was where a first batch of sensitive materials were discovered on November 2, according to Mr. Biden’s attorneys earlier this month.
His Wilmington home’s garage held a second set of documents that were discovered on December 20, and on January 12 a different document was discovered in a storage area, according to his attorneys.
After leaving office, the administrations of former Presidents Obama and George W. Bush gave over all of their records to the National Archives, according to statements made by their representatives to Reuters on Tuesday.
The revelations at Mr. Pence and Mr. Biden’s residences come as Mr. Trump is being investigated by a special counsel for allegedly handling records improperly.
At Mr. Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago residence, the FBI discovered hundreds of sensitive documents; Mr. Trump and his attorneys refused to turn over the data up until the Florida vacation home was searched by the FBI last August.
He asserted that President Biden was receiving preferential treatment from the FBI while denying any wrongdoing.
