Tuesday, January 24, 2023

More "misplaced" classfiied documents

I've been hearing having classified documents isn't uncommon.
A lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence’s Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

[...]

Pence asked his lawyer with experience handling classified material to conduct the search of his home out of an abundance of caution.

[...]

The discovery comes after Pence has repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession.

  CNN
This is actually absurd. The USG classifies way too many documents for no - or stupid (including fear of embarrassment) - reasons. But there's no reason on earth classified documents should end up in private possession. If you don't know how to set up a system, ask a librarian.
The vice president’s residence at the US Naval Observatory in Washington has a secure facility for handling classified material along with other security, and it would be common for classified documents to be there for the vice president to review.

[...]

Some of the boxes at Pence’s Indiana home were packed up from the vice president’s residence, while some came from the White House in the final days of the Trump administration, which included last-minute things that did not go through the process the rest of Pence’s documents did.

[...]

Pence’s lawyer immediately alerted the National Archives, the sources said. In turn, the Archives informed the Justice Department.

A lawyer for Pence told CNN that the FBI requested to pick up the documents with classified markings that evening, and Pence agreed.

[...]

On Monday, Pence’s legal team drove the boxes back to Washington, DC, and handed them over to the Archives to review the rest of the material for compliance with the Presidential Records Act.

[...]

The classified material was stored in boxes that first went to Pence’s temporary home in Virginia before they were moved to Indiana, according to the sources. The boxes were not in a secure area, but they were taped up and were not believed to have been opened since they were packed, according to Pence’s attorney. Once the classified documents were discovered, the sources said they were placed inside a safe located in the house.

[...]

“The bottom line is I don’t know how this happened, we need to get to the bottom of it,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican. “I don’t believe for a minute that Mike Pence is trying to intentionally compromise national security. But clearly we’ve got a problem here.”
Lindsey has a fine grasp of the obvious.

And maybe go through your papers if you've ever been anywhere near classified docs in your career.  (Actually, that's probably what's happening and why Mike Pence's lawyer found some.)

And, like Biden, Pence condemned the man before him for mishandling classified docs...


You might think Pence, who boasts about his Christian bona fides, would be more conversant with Biblical admonitions against casting stones and picking motes out of eyes.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 04:11 pm:  And Congressman Donalds only got two days to be self-righteous.  


That, and this, are still up on his Twitter account.  Somebody should let him know.


No comment yet on Pence's "violation of the espionage act."

UPDATE 01/25/2023:


Does that mean some people should be fired?


Perhaps they do, but unless someone credible comes foward to claim knowledge of it, I don't see this happening.

UPDATE 01/25/2023:  Still no comments on Donalds' Twitter account about Mike Pence's classified document story.

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