WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI raided former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana on Friday as part of an investigation into classified documents, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
The people were not authorized to discuss the law enforcement action and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The search followed the discovery of confidential documents by lawyers last month.
The FBI had previously obtained what Pence’s lawyer described to the National Archives as “a small number of documents” that were “inadvertently packed and transported” to Pence’s Indiana home late in the Trump administration.
Friday’s search was described as consensual and came after a long back-and-forth between Pence’s legal team and the FBI. A member of Pence’s legal team was at the house and expected the search to last several hours, according to one of the people familiar with the discussions. That person added that the FBI had unrestricted access to the home.
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The former vice president and 2024 prospect hasn’t visited a state family in California since the birth of a grandchild.
The Justice Department did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.
The department is also investigating the discovery of classified documents at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware and his former office in Washington, as well as former President Donald Trump’s property in Florida. Officials are also trying to determine whether Trump or anyone on his team criminally obstructed the investigation by refusing to turn over documents.
Pence’s case is very different from Trump’s. Pence, according to his lawyer, Greg Jacob, requested a review of documents stored in his home “out of an abundance of caution” amid the uproar over the discovery of classified documents in his home and former private office. When the documents were discovered, Jacob said, they were immediately secured in a locked vault and reported to the National Archives. FBI agents then collect the documents that had been secured.
The materials found in the boxes came primarily from the Naval Observatory vice president’s residence at Pence, while other materials came from an office drawer in the West Wing.
Pence said he did not know the documents were in his possession.
“Let me be clear: Those classified documents were not supposed to be in my personal residence,” Pence said last week at Florida International University. “Mistakes were made and I take full responsibility for them.”
Pence said, “We acted above politics and put the national interest first.”
Colvin reported from New York.
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