Former VP Mike Pence says he takes 'full responsibility' for classified documents found at his Indiana residence: 'Mistakes were made'
- Mike Pence on Friday said he took "full responsibility" for classified documents found at his home.
- "Mistakes were made. And I take full responsibility," he said during remarks while in Florida.
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday said he took "full responsibility" after classified documents were found at his Indiana residence, conceding that "mistakes were made."
While speaking at Florida International University, Pence said he felt that it would be "appropriate" to go through his records after classified files were discovered at President Joe Biden's former office in Washington, DC, and Wilmington, Delaware, home.
CNN first reported on Tuesday that an attorney for Pence discovered roughly a dozen classified files at the former vice president's residence in Carmel, Indiana.
Pence had asked his attorney, Matt Morgan, to handle the search of any sensitive materials, sources told CNN.
Last year, Pence — while speaking about the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, where federal officials retrieved several boxes of classified and top secret materials — told The Associated Press that he had not left office with classified documents from his stint as vice president from 2017 to 2021.
On Friday, Pence said a "small number of documents marked classified or sensitive interspersed in my personal papers" were found, and that he and his attorney "immediately" secured the files. Once they had isolated the files, they informed the National Archives, submitted the documents to the FBI, and told Congress of the developments, the former vice president said.
"And while I was not aware that those classified documents were in our personal residence, let me be clear: Those classified documents should not have been in my personal residence. Mistakes were made. And I take full responsibility," he said.
Pence said that he instructed his counsel to "fully cooperate" in the matter.
"I welcome the work of the Department of Justice in this case," he later told reporters.