The Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home. The news comes just days before Pence is set to launch his campaign for the Republican nomination for president. The decision was welcome news for the former vice president and his political team as he prepares to enter the crowded GOP primary field and contrast himself with former President Donald Trump. About a dozen documents with classified markings were discovered at Pence’s home in January after he asked his lawyers to perform a search of his vice presidential belongings “out of an abundance of caution” after the Biden discovery.
Quoting a recent report from the Associated Press, the Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence’s legal team that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home. The department sent a letter to Pence’s attorney on Thursday, informing his team that no criminal charges will be sought after an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information.
The news comes just days before Pence is set to launch his campaign for the Republican nomination for president in Iowa on Wednesday. This race will put him in direct competition with his old boss, former President Donald Trump. However, with no evidence suggesting that Pence intentionally hid documents from the government or even knew they were in his home, there was never an expectation that he would face charges. Nonetheless, this decision and timing were welcome news for the former vice president and his political team as he prepares to enter the crowded GOP primary field and contrast himself with Trump.
Attorney General Merrick Garland had named a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into the discovery of hundreds of documents with classified markings at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home just three days after the former president formally launched his 2024 campaign. This was an acknowledgment of the high political stakes involved. A special counsel was also put in place to investigate classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware and at an unsecured office in Washington dating from his time as vice president.
About a dozen documents with classified markings were discovered at Pence’s home in January after he asked his lawyers to perform a search of his vice presidential belongings “out of an abundance of caution” after the Biden discovery. The items had been “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Pence’s home at the end of the last administration, Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, wrote in a letter to the National Archives. The FBI then discovered an additional document with classified markings at the Indiana house during its own search the following month.
Pence has said repeatedly that he was unaware of the documents’ existence, but that “mistakes were made” in his handling of classified material. Beyond Pence, the two Justice Department special counsels are still investigating the Mar-a-Lago and Biden documents. It remains to be seen what the outcome of those investigations will be.
At the end of the day, the Department of Justice’s decision not to pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at Mike Pence’s Indiana home is welcome news for the former vice president and his political team as he prepares to enter the crowded GOP primary field. With no evidence suggesting that Pence intentionally hid documents from the government or even knew they were in his home, there was never an expectation that he would face charges. Nonetheless, this decision and timing were significant given the high political stakes involved.
