Former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence stated on Friday that he did not take any classified information with him when he left office.

Pence made the statement in an interview with The Associated Press in Iowa, roughly a week and a half after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and recovered classified and top-secret materials.

Also read: Mike Pence says he did not leave office with any classified materials

Pence responded, “No, not to my knowledge,” when asked if he kept any classified material after leaving office.

The admission, which would typically be unremarkable for a former vice president, is important because FBI agents raided Trump’s home on August 8 while investigating alleged violations of three different federal statutes.

Who is Mike Pence? 

Michael Richard Pence is an American politician, broadcaster, and lawyer who served as President Donald Trump’s 48th Vice President from 2017 to 2021. He formerly served as Indiana’s 50th governor, from 2013 to 2017. He is a Republican. Pence also served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 until 2013.

Also read: Donald Trump home search: DOJ probes ‘wilful retention’ of defence information

Early life

Pence is the younger brother of U.S. Representative Greg Pence and was born and raised in Columbus, Indiana. Before entering private practise, he graduated from Hanover College and received his law degree from Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He became a conservative radio and television talk show personality from 1994 to 1999 after losing two congressional runs in 1988 and 1990.

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2000, representing Indiana’s 2nd district from 2001 to 2003 and the 6th district from 2003 to 2013. From 2005 to 2007, he chaired the Republican Study Committee, and from 2009 to 2011, he was chairman of the House Republican Conference, the third-highest post in House Republican leadership. Pence defined himself as a “principled conservative” and Tea Party member, claiming to be “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.”

Also read: Court hearing on releasing Donald Trump home search documents: Key takeaways

Career

When term-limited Mitch Daniels retired in 2012, Pence successfully ran for the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana. In the closest gubernatorial contest in 50 years, he defeated former Indiana House Speaker John R. Gregg.

When Pence became governor in January 2013, he implemented the largest tax cut in Indiana history and advocated for increased financing for private school projects. Pence signed abortion-restricting legislation, including one that barred abortions based on the fetus’s race, gender, or disability.

Pence faced intense opposition from moderate members of his party, the business sector, and LGBT organisations after signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Pence amended the measure to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and other characteristics in response to the criticism against the RFRA.

Also read: Trump probe: DoJ asks judge to not unseal affidavit that allowed FBI search at Mar-a-Lago

In July 2016, Pence dropped his gubernatorial reelection bid to serve as the running mate of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who went on to win the 2016 presidential election.

On January 20, 2017, he was sworn in as Vice President of the United States. Pence has led the National Space Council as vice president since it was reestablished in June 2017. Pence was appointed chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in February 2020, in response to the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States.

Pence and Trump were defeated in their re-election bids in the 2020 presidential election by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, despite the Trump campaign’s refusal to concede, bogus charges of election fraud, and filing of more than 86 unsuccessful lawsuits in numerous states.

Despite Trump’s calls to reverse the election results and the attack on the US Capitol during the Electoral College vote count, Pence, as President of the Senate, confirmed the Biden-Harris ticket as the election winner.

Also read: Why DOJ opposed to unsealing Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago search affidavit

Personal life

Mike Pence was born in 1959 to Nancy and Edward J. Pence. He has five brothers and sisters. He met his wife, Karen (née Batten), while in law school at Indiana University. They tied the knot in 1985. Mike and Karen Pence have three children, Michael, Charlotte, and Audrey Pence.