Trump reacts to Pence classified document discovery: 'an innocent man'

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday remarked on reports that Vice President Mike Pence had discovered classified materials at his own home amid ongoing investigations into both Trump's and President Joe Biden's handling of classified materials.

In a post on Truth Social, the former president appeared to defend his old running mate, though it remains unclear whether he intended to convey a sarcastic message.

"Mike Pence is an innocent man. He never did anything knowingly dishonest in his life. Leave him alone!!!" Trump wrote.

Pence on Tuesday informed Congress that his team had discovered materials marked classified at his Indiana home stemming form his time in the Trump White House.

He first alerted the National Archives, which in turn alerted federal law enforcement. The FBI recovered the materials while the former vice president attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C.

Trump's retort comes as the Department of Justice continues its investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents. The FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, 2022, seeking classified materials he may have removed from the White House.

Prior to the raid, Trump voluntarily complied with a grand jury subpoena and willingly surrendered classified materials to the federal government. The raid has generated widespread accusations among Republicans of political persecution, cries of which have grown louder in the wake of the discovery of classified materials at Biden's own former office.

In early November 2022, a lawyer reportedly clearing out Biden's office in the Penn Biden Center in Washington discovered classified materials that contained intelligence on Iran, Ukraine and the UK. After that discovery became public, Biden aides subsequently discovered additional documents at his Delaware home. Pence indicated that these public reports prompted him to search his own property for such materials.

Facing pressure from Republicans, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Robert Hur to handle the Biden matter after previously naming Jack Smith as special counsel to handle the DOJ's Trump investigations.