FBI Uncovers One Classified Document in Raid on Mike Pence's Home

Friday’s raid reportedly lasted approximately five hours and also involved the seizure of six documents, one of which was listed as classified.

The FBI reportedly found a classified document in a search of the private residence of former Vice President Mike Pence, following his admission that a “small number” of classified documents were discovered last month at his home in Carmel, Indiana.

In a statement, Pence adviser Devin O'Malley said that “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.”

“The vice president has directed his legal team to continue its cooperation with appropriate authorities and to be fully transparent through the conclusion of this matter," O'Malley stated.

It’s been reported that Pence is currently visiting family on the west coast of the US, but that a private attorney was present at the Indiana house during the search. O’Malley noted Pence “agreed to a consensual search of his residence that took place today.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department reportedly confirmed to CBS News that they arranged the date of the raid with Pence’s team in advance. However, despite the prior knowledge of the search, investigators say they still discovered a document that was in Pence’s possession illegally.

The revelations come as various classified documents were discovered in the private homes of some of the most senior politicians in the country.

In August, the FBI seized a number of classified documents it found in former US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, quickly leading to widespread Democratic speculation that the former president could be at the end of his rope.

But just two months later, federal agents discovered over a dozen classified documents in the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, as well as the private home of current president Joe Biden – a discovery that wasn’t publicized until several weeks after November’s hotly-contested midterm elections.

Finally, in January, Pence said his lawyers found similar documents in his residence as well.

Last week, Pence’s legal team claimed those classified documents were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to his home as the Trump administration’s term concluded, and that the former vice president was “unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence.”

Pence admitted “mistakes were made” in his handling of sensitive information but promised to “fully cooperate” with the FBI in any investigation. However, last month he excoriated the Justice Department and the mainstream media for the politicized double standard he says they’ve created in judicial enforcement.

“Whether it be the administration or whether it be the media papering over this, look, it was a massive overreach by the FBI, a massive overreaction this summer to execute a search warrant at the personal residence of a former president of the United States, and I said so,” Pence said in an interview.

“But having now created that standard and now abandoned that standard when the current president of the United States is found to have had classified documents in his possession after leaving office, I think it just, I have no words right now. It’s just incredibly frustrating to me,” Pence concluded.

The spike in classified paperwork turning up unguarded has since prompted the US National Archives to dispatch letters to living former presidents and vice presidents urging them to verify they no longer possess government documents.