In the affair of secret government documents in the United States, new details are becoming known. According to media reports, former President Donald Trump’s team has handed over more secret material to the judiciary. There was also a new find with Trump’s former deputy Mike Pence: During a search of his private home, FBI investigators discovered another secret government document on Friday.
The document affair has kept the United States in suspense for months and has also reached US President Joe Biden. In the past few weeks, confidentially marked documents from his time as Vice President under Barack Obama have surfaced in the Democrat’s private rooms. Findings from his successor Trump had already caused a stir in the summer. Both cases are now being investigated by special investigators. Finally, Pence also had to admit last month that secret documents from his time as deputy turned up in his private home.
When he left the White House, Republican Trump took large amounts of government documents with him to his private estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, including a number of top-secret documents. The FBI searched the property in August and confiscated various classified documents. The National Archives had previously asked Trump several times to return the documents.
According to reports, after the search, the judiciary unsuccessfully demanded an assurance from Trump’s lawyers that no classified information was now in the possession of the former president. The broadcaster ABC wrote that Trump’s team then went looking for more documents and found them. Accordingly, the laptop of an employee was handed over to which secret material had been transferred. While ABC only spoke of an allegedly empty folder with a lock mark next to the laptop, CNN said that other secret documents had also been found and handed over to Trump.
During the search in August, the investigators had already confiscated dozens of empty folders with closure markings. Trump said he took the folders from the White House as souvenirs. Unlike Pence and Biden, whose two properties were also combed by investigators, Trump’s search had not been coordinated with the Justice Department beforehand. Pence had pre-approved the search of his Indiana home on Friday, his advisor Devin O’Malley made clear again on Friday.
In addition to a document marked as classified, the search found six other pages of government material without such a marking, US media quoted O’Malley as saying. It has been known since the end of January that secret files from his earlier term in office were found in the home of 63-year-old Republican Pence in Carmel. It was said that a lawyer discovered the documents at the time. They were then picked up by the federal police.
Pence later commented: “While I was not aware that this classified information was in our private home, let me be clear: this classified information should not have been there.” The search now carried out is said to have lasted five hours. Pence was reportedly not present, but one of his associates was. The Republican was number two in the state under Trump from 2017 to 2021. Like his former boss, he is expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump announced his candidacy in November. The election will take place at the end of 2024.
Trump accuses the judiciary of being politically motivated in their investigations against him. Special Counsel Jack Smith is not only investigating Trump’s document affair, but also the Republican’s role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In the course of this investigation, according to media reports, special counsel Smith is said to have also summoned Pence. Pence should make a statement, and documents were also requested, it said. The special counsel is particularly interested in the exchange between Trump and Pence surrounding the storming of Parliament and the 2020 presidential election, which Trump falsely claims to this day was cheated out of victory. Pence could invoke executive privilege – the government’s prerogative to keep certain information secret.
During the Capitol attack, Pence narrowly escaped the violence of the angry mobs that Trump had previously incited against his then-vice president. At the time, Congress met to formally confirm the election victory of Trump’s Democratic challenger Biden. The violent crowd wanted to prevent that.
At that time, Pence chaired the congress session in his role as Vice President – legally a purely ceremonial task. Trump had previously openly called on his deputy to block the procedure – in order to prevent the transfer of office. Pence refused to give in to Trump’s pressure at the time. The arch-conservative politician had previously been loyal to Trump for a long time. Only after the attack on the Capitol did he turn against his former boss.
