The Justice Department has closed its investigation into classified documents found earlier this year at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana and will not file charges, according to a letter from officials obtained by CNN, The Washington Post and NBC News.
The Justice Department’s national security division told Pence’s attorney on Thursday that they would not bring charges against the former vice president based on the results of their investigation, NBC News reported. The decision comes days before Pence is expected to announce a bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to CNN.
Reports surfaced in January that documents with classified markings had been found at Pence’s home. An attorney for Pence said a “small number” of documents were inadvertently boxed and sent to Pence’s home following his time in the White House, The Associated Press reported. An FBI search subsequently found one additional document with classification markings in February, according to the AP.
The discovery came after authorities said classified records were found at a former office used by President Joe Biden in Washington and his home in Delaware. Classified documents were also recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida months earlier.
In November, Attorney General Merrick Garland named a special counsel to oversee a pair of investigations related to Trump, including the classified document probe. In January, Garland named a special counsel to investigate the documents recovered from Biden’s former office and his home.
A Pence adviser told NBC News that the former vice president and his team were not surprised by the Justice Department’s decision not to file charges against him. Advisers told CNN that Pence’s attorney contacted the National Archives soon after the records were found and quickly turned the documents over to the FBI.
Authorities said they sought records from Trump for months before an eventual search by the FBI found more than 100 classified records at Mar-a-Lago. Officials continue to investigate.
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