Biden’s address on aerial objects ‘too little too late’: Mike Pence
Former Vice President Mike Pence responds to President Biden’s first address on the flying objects and discusses other political topics including the January 6 special counsel, the Ohio train derailment and the 2024 election.
The Justice Department searched former Vice President Pence’s think tank office on Friday and found "no new documents with classified markings," Fox News Digital has learned.
"The Department of Justice today completed a thorough and unrestricted search of Advancing American Freedom's office for several hours and found no new documents with classified markings," Pence advisor Devon O’Malley told Fox News Digital. "One binder with approximately three previously redacted documents was taken."
O’Malley said Pence has "consistently cooperated with appropriate authorities, has been fully transparent, and looks forward to the imminent conclusion of this matter."
The Justice Department searched former Vice President Pence’s think tank office on Friday and found "no new documents with classified markings," Fox News Digital has learned. ((Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment Friday.
DOJ officials confirmed a consensual search took place at Pence’s Washington think tank office this afternoon for classified docs.
The search came after the FBI last week searched the former vice president’s Indiana home, where they discovered an additional document bearing classification markings.
A person familiar with the documents found in the binder told Fox News Digital that they are believed to be from prep for the 2020 vice presidential debate.
The search was "consensual," according to a person familiar and was conducted with a member if Pence’s legal team present throughout its duration.
The DOJ was given "unrestricted access" to Pence’s office, the person familiar said.
PENCE FBI SEARCH LASTED 5 HOURS, RECOVERED ONE ADDITIONAL CLASSIFIED DOC
The search comes a week after a separate unrestricted search of Pence’s home, where FBI officials discovered one document with classified markings. It was removed from Pence’s home, along with six additional pages with such markings.
Fox News Digital has learned the scope of the search included not only documents with classified markings and documents that may be classified without such markings, but also documents that DOJ believed might be original Presidential Record Act documents.
A person familiar told Fox News Digital that Pence staff was "assured" by the Justice Department DOJ that the scope of materials covered by the search was "the same as the scope applied in the searches of former Vice President, now President, Biden's personal locations."
Former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home is seen from the air as a police vehicle is seen in the driveway, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. (NewsNation)
Following the discovery of Biden classified records, the person familiar told Fox News Digital that Pence had instructed his lawyer, who has experience handling classified material, to conduct an initial search of Pence's home on Jan. 16.
During that search, a small number of potentially classified documents were found among four boxes that were "inadvertently transferred to Pence's home during the transition" between the Trump administration and the Biden administration.
"The Vice President was unaware that either potentially sensitive or classified documents were transported to his home," the person said.
The person told Fox News Digital that the FBI notified the National Archives that they would retrieve the documents, instead of the National Archives--a deviation from established precedent. The FBI did so in the middle of the night on Thursday, Jan. 19 while Pence was in Washington, D.C. for the March for Life.
Pence notified Congress on Jan. 23 of his retention of classified records and "conveyed his intent to fully cooperate with any necessary congressional oversight on the matter and has been fully cooperative and transparent throughout this process."
The discovery of Pence's classified records comes after classified records were found inside the Washington, D.C., offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank on Nov. 2, 2022. That discovery was only disclosed to the public in January.
A second stash of classified documents was also found inside the garage of the president’s home in Wilmington in December but revealed to the public last month, prompting Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint former U.S. Attorney Rob Hur to serve as special counsel.
A guard stands outside Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. (Alon Skuy/Fox News Digital)
Days later, additional classified documents were found in the president’s home in Delaware. The FBI conducted a more than 12-hour search of Biden’s Delaware home last month, seizing additional classified records.
Meanwhile, former President Trump is also under special counsel investigation for the improper retention of classified records.
The FBI conducted an unprecedented early morning raid on his private residence in Palm Beach Aug. 8, 2022, and seized classified records, including some marked as top secret.
Trump and his legal team dispute the classification and argued that they were cooperating with the Justice Department and FBI ahead of the unprecedented predawn raid of the former president’s Palm Beach home.
Garland on Nov. 18 appointed former DOJ official Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate the issue of classified records being held at Mar-a-Lago.
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