DOJ retrieves three "previously redacted" documents from Pence office
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Former vice president Mike Pence. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Federal investigators searched the office of former vice president Mike Pence's conservative nonprofit on Friday and took a "binder with approximately three previously redacted documents" but no new classified records, according to an aide.
The big picture: The search comes one week after the FBI recovered a classified document following a five-hour search of Pence's Indiana home. His legal team previously found a "small number" of potentially classified materials there in January, per Pence's lawyer.
- "The Department of Justice today completed a thorough and unrestricted search of Advancing American Freedom's office for several hours and found no new documents with classified markings," Pence adviser Devin O'Malley said in a statement to Axios on Friday.
- "One binder with approximately three previously redacted documents was taken," O'Malley added.
- "The vice president has consistently cooperated with appropriate authorities, has been fully transparent, and looks forward to the imminent conclusion of this matter," O'Malley said.
- The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
Background: Pence asked his lawyers on Jan. 16 to review documents at his home "out of an abundance of caution" after the discovery of classified materials at President Biden's personal residence, Pence attorney Greg Jacob wrote in a Jan. 18 letter to the National Archives.
- Pence "was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence," Jacob wrote.
- The searches at the Biden and Pence residences follow the discovery of a larger number of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, former president Donald Trump's Florida estate.
Why it matters: Under the Presidential Records Act, the official records of the president and his staff are owned by the United States, not by the president, and must be turned over to the National Archives when a president leaves office.
Worth noting: Pence has also been subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing the federal criminal investigations into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.
