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One document with classified markings was found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home on Friday during an FBI search, a representative for Pence said in a statement.
“The Department of Justice completed a thorough and unrestricted search of five hours and removed one document with classified markings and six additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review by the vice president’s counsel,” adviser Devin O’Malley said.
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Pence and the Justice Department had apparently negotiated the date for today’s search, according to NBC News.
The search comes less than one month after Pence’s staff found a “small number” of classified documents at his home last month.
Pence’s attorney said the documents were discovered after the former vice president asked “outside counsel” to look for records following reports that separate Obama-era classified documents had been found at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware.
Both Biden and Pence promptly returned the documents to the National Archives.
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The classified documents controversies were sparked after an FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s turned up more than 13,000 files that Trump had refused to hand over to the National Archive after leaving office, as required by law.
Since then, the former president has pursued a legal battle in an attempt to stop investigators from reviewing the seized documents. Some of the documents allegedly contain nuclear-related information.
President Joe Biden’s team later found a set of classified documents at the Penn Biden center in Washington, D.C, where he used to work, and then another set of documents at his home in Delaware. His team agreed for the Justice Department to search Biden’s Delaware home last month, which turned up six additional documents from his time as a senator.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed special counsels to oversee both the Biden and Trump document probes.
