Classified Documents Found at VP Pence’s Residence

And so what became a political problem for Republicans is now a national security problem for the country.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) following the announcement that classified documents were recently found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana.

Why It Matters: The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires presidential records to remain public property and be maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration; it also “Requires that Vice-Presidential records be treated in the same way as Presidential records.” Over the course of the past few months, it has been made known that former President Trump, President Biden, and now former Vice President Pence have been found to have classified documents at their private residences (and a former private office in Pres. Biden’s case). Former Pres. Trump and Pres. Biden are being investigated by special counsels who were appointed by the Attorney General. Reminder: A special counsel is a lawyer who operates independently of day-to-day DOJ oversight in order to prevent a potential conflict of interest or determined to be necessary in any other “extraordinary circumstances.”

• Discovery of around a dozen documents at former Vice President Pence’s home was announced on Tuesday. His attorney conducted a search at his home last week. CNN, which first broke the story, reports, “It is not yet clear what the documents are related to or their level of sensitivity or classification.”
• Something To Consider: “Executives go back and forth to their house with documents and read them. They read them at night, they bring them back. I can see how this happens. But again, every situation is different. They are all very serious. So, how many? How serious? How did you get them? Who had access to them? Are you being cooperative? And the same set of questions has to be answered with respect to Pence and with President Biden and President Trump,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA).

Classified records pose conundrum stretching back to Carter (The Associated Press)

Pence documents complicate GOP attack lines on Biden (NBC News)