Politics
U.S. National Archives asks former presidents to check for classified documents
The Archives sent letters to all former presidents and vice presidents to ensure that they are complying with the Presidential Records Act, which requires them to turn over any documents received while in office to the U.S. government
January 27, 2023 3:39am
Updated: January 27, 2023 7:48am
The United States National Archives on Thursday asked former U.S. presidents and vice presidents to go through their personal records and check to see if they have any classified documents in their possession after sensitive documents were found in the homes of President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The Archives sent letters to all former presidents and vice presidents to ensure that they are complying with the Presidential Records Act, which requires them to turn over any documents received while in office to the U.S. government.
“We request that you conduct an assessment of any materials held outside of (the Archives) that relate to the administration for which you serve as a designated representative under the PRA, to determine whether bodies of materials previously assumed to be personal in nature might inadvertently contain Presidential or Vice Presidential records subject to the PRA, whether classified or unclassified,” the archives said in the letter.
Among those who received a letter from the Archives includes former Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, and former Vice Presidents Pence, Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore, and Dan Quayle, reported The Associated Press.
The letter comes after several classified documents were found in the possession of President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence over the last few weeks.
Biden’s lawyers found the classified documents in early November in his former private office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington. Many of the “top secret” documents included U.S. intelligence materials and briefing memos about Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom, according to a source familiar with the matter. A second batch of sensitive documents was found last week in the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Similarly, more than a dozen classified documents were found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Carmel, Indiana last week. The documents were stored in boxes in an unsecured area in his house.
