MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Classified documents also found at former VP Pence's home

Mike Pence is now under investigation together with Donald Trump and Joseph Biden for the irregular possession of sensitive material

Documents labeled as “classified” have been found at the home of former US Vice President Mike Pence (2017-2021). Pence himself had asked one of his lawyers to search the house as a precaution after confidential papers were detected at President Joseph Biden's residence from his time at the White House under Barack Obama.

Pence's attorneys found four boxes full of reports with the confidential information letterhead and notified the National Archives, which reported the discovery to the Justice Department, according to CNN. The Congressional committees in charge of this type of matters have also been informed.

The FBI retrieved a small number of documents from Pence's home in Carmel, Indiana, earlier this month. Although Pence had insisted he had no such documents in his possession he retained the services of a law firm “out of an abundance of caution,” after similar content had also been found at former President Donald Trump's Ma-a-Lago residence in Florida. Both Biden and Trump are under investigation for their handling of classified documents.

The papers found at the former Indiana Governor's home were taken to the National Archives in Washington DC for further analysis.

“Vice President Pence was unaware of the existence of confidential or classified documents in his residence,” said Greg Jacob, one of Pence's lawyers. He also sent a letter to the National Archives notifying them of the documents and in a separate letter said the FBI came to the former vice president's home to collect the documents. “Counsel identified a small number of documents that could potentially contain sensitive or classified information interspersed throughout the records,” Jacob wrote in the letter.

In a separate letter dated Jan 22, Jacob said the Justice Department “bypassed the standard procedures and requested direct possession” of the documents at Pence's residence.

Upon leaving the White House, each administration is supposed to turn over to the US National Archives all classified material. Doing otherwise poses risks to national security.