The FBI on Friday discovered an additional classified document at former US Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home during a voluntary five-hour search of the house, a Pence adviser said in a statement quoted by NBC News.
The adviser, Devin O'Malley, said "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 said. He also noted that Pence and his legal team had "agreed to a consensual search of his residence that took place today."
The FBI search came weeks after documents with classified markings were found in Pence’s home.
Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, notified the National Archives on Jan. 18 that a small number of documents with classified markings were found at the former vice president’s Indiana home. Officials had searched the home for classified documents out of an abundance of caution.
The documents were turned over to federal authorities the next day, along with two other boxes with copies of administration records, Jacob said.
The Pence documents were discovered weeks after a White House lawyer said that a “small number of documents” with classified markings that are tied to President Joe Biden and appear to be from the Obama administration are under review by the Justice Department and National Archives.
Two days later, it was reported that aides to Biden discovered at least one additional batch of classified documents in a location separate from the Washington office he used after leaving the Obama administration.
The White House later said it had discovered five additional pages of classified documents at Biden's home on Thursday, the same day a special counsel was appointed to review the matter.
Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, subsequently said on Saturday that a new search of Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, by the department had found six more items, including documents with classification markings.
The Biden saga followed the discovery of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida, after FBI agents raided the home in August. Investigators seized 33 more boxes of records, including more than 100 documents marked classified.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)