Classified documents found at former US VP Mike Pence's Indiana home

Washington: Classified documents have been found at former US Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home last week, The Hill reported on Tuesday citing officials.

At present, US President Joe Biden is also facing a surge in criticism over classified documents. The classified documents were found at Biden's Delaware home and his old office at Washington DC.

According to The Hill, Pence's team last Wednesday notified that a small number of records were "accidentally packaged and carried" to the former vice president's residence at the end of the previous administration.
According to a letter from Pence's attorney to the National Archives, Pence was "unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified records in his own residence."

Furthermore, if the number of documents found at Pence's place was to be counted, his team, notably was unable to provide an exact number of documents recovered or additional descriptions of the materials because they were locked away until they could be turned over to the National Archives.

Following Biden and former President Trump, Pence is now the third top US official to have housed secret papers from his time in office at his home, according to the discovery at his residence, The Hill reported.
According to the Presidential Records Act, after finishing their elected terms, presidents and vice presidents must deliver their papers to the National Archives for adequate preservation.

After conducting an extensive search in Biden's home, six classified documents were found including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, and binders that covered decades of his work and his personal attorney described them as "documents with classification markings and surrounding materials."

The Justice Department also took some of Biden's handwritten notes from his vice-presidential years to further review them.

Interestingly, both the current and the most recent former president have had federal agents extensively search their properties as special counsels investigate the handling of classified information, according to The Washington Post.

Earlier, on January 9, Biden's special counsel confirmed that classified documents from his time as vice president were discovered in a private office space and turned over to the National Archives in November reported CNN. Though the first documents were found on November 2.