Pence denies leaving office with classified documents
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Despite evidence proving otherwise, Mike Pense argues against claims of his possession of classified documents.
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Former Vice President Mike Pence
Former Vice President Mike Pence revealed on Friday that he did not possess any classified documents when he left office.
The disclosure is important given that FBI investigators confiscated classified and top secret information from his former boss' Florida house on Aug. 8 while investigating suspected violations of three distinct federal statutes. Former President Donald Trump has claimed that the documents seized by agents were “all declassified".
When asked explicitly if he kept any sensitive information after leaving office, Pence told The Associated Press, "No, not to my knowledge."
Despite the inclusion of material marked “top secret” in the government’s list of items recovered from Mar-a-Lago, Pence said, “I honestly don’t want to prejudge it before until we know all the facts.”
Pence was in Iowa on Friday as part of a two-day visit to the state that hosts the Republican presidential caucuses. It comes as the former Vice President has made appearances in other early-voting states as he prepares to run for President in 2024.
Read next: FBI raid on Trump's Florida home sparks political row
Speaking further about the Mar-a-Lago search, Pence highlighted the possibility, as he has before, that the probe was politically motivated and urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to reveal more information about what prompted officials to conduct the search.
“The concern that millions of Americans felt is only going to be resolved with daylight,” Pence said Friday. “I know that’s not customary in an investigation. But this is an unprecedented action by the Justice Department, and I think it merits unprecedented transparency.”
The Jan. 6 insurrection marked the first in several public breaks between Trump and his once devout No. 2. But Pence has been careful not to alienate Republicans who have supported Trump but might be looking for another candidate in the 2024 election.
Despite his reluctance to criticize the former President, Pence has occasionally spoken out against Trump, criticizing the attack at the US Capitol and more recently urging his fellow Republicans to stop lashing out at the FBI over the search of Mar-a-Lago.
“The Republican Party is the party of law and order,” Pence said Wednesday at a political breakfast in New Hampshire. “Our party stands with the men and women who stand on the thin blue line at the federal and state and local level, and these attacks on the FBI must stop.”
Pence indicated Friday that he will decide whether to run for president early next year, a choice that his allies say will be independent of anything Trump does.
