FBI finds classified document at Mike Pence's residence

The FBI found one classified document after searching the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence for five hours Friday, an adviser to Pence said.

Pence and his aides had agreed to the search after they discovered a small number of classified documents there last month. The search, which the adviser described as “thorough and unrestricted,” also yielded six additional pages without such markings.

“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,” said Pence's adviser, Devin O'Malley.

The Pences were traveling when the search took place, which came a day after reports that Pence had received a subpoena from the special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump's efforts to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election.

The search, while the result of an agreement with the Justice Department, has engendered suspicion and anger within the small circle of advisers close to the former vice president.

Pence's team had been quietly negotiating the terms of a search when reports of the talks were leaked to the news media. His aides blame the Justice Department, and that experience is likely to influence future interactions related to the department's inquiry into Trump, said a person familiar with the situation.

After President Joe Biden disclosed that his aides had discovered classified documents from his time as vice president at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and a former think tank office in Washington, Pence's aides searched his home out of caution.

They found documents with classified markings and notified the Justice Department. The FBI showed up while Pence was at the March for Life in Washington, Greg Jacob, a former adviser and Pence's representative for dealing with records related to the presidency, wrote in a letter to the National Archives.

The disclosure renewed questions about how classified material is handled at the highest echelons of government, with both Biden and Trump the subject of special counsel investigations into the matter.

Still, Trump's response to the discovery of sensitive government documents at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, stands in stark contrast to that of Biden or Pence.

Trump for months resisted the government's repeated attempts to retrieve the materials.