CNN –
Advisors to former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden were told of classified documents found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home, and both saw it as a useful defense in their own document investigations.
Biden’s team continues to draw a distinction between him and Trump over the handling of classified documents, and the parallels between the Pence and Biden cases have served to sharpen that argument in the initial fallout.
But sources familiar with both cases acknowledged Tuesday that new revelations about sensitive materials found in Pence’s home help their cause.
On the one hand, Trump’s legal team sees the news of classified documents found at Pence’s home as a positive development for the former president, as it believes the discovery, along with the ongoing special counsel investigation of Biden related to his handling of classified documents, changes the dynamics of the Justice Department’s investigation into the former president, according to a source familiar with the matter.
While the circumstances are different in each case, members of Trump’s legal team believe these developments will make it more difficult for prosecutors to justify bringing criminal charges against either of them, the source said.
Meanwhile, Biden officials were relieved by the news, with sources telling CNN that the Pence news “drops the temperature because it’s a Biden-only story.”
Another source familiar with the investigation compared the steps Pence took after the discovery of classified documents to those taken by Biden. Pence turned over a dozen documents marked classified to the FBI shortly after they were discovered.
When Biden’s team found classified documents in his think tank’s Washington, D.C. office in November, they immediately notified the National Archives, which in turn notified the Justice Department, though the discovery did not go reveal publicly for weeks.
“Pence appears to have followed a very similar initial process to Biden’s in terms of voluntary review of materials and prompt disclosure to appropriate authorities when found, all of which was made public by a media report,” he said. say the source
The FBI recently searched Biden’s home, months after the first classified material was found. Biden’s team discovered documents in various locations between November and January.
But Trump allies also welcomed Pence’s news and believe it further blurs the lines between the three cases.
“They’re all linked in some way now,” said the source familiar with the thinking of Trump’s legal team, referring to Pence, Biden and Trump.
Trump’s team also believes the Biden and Pence revelations support their argument that this should not be treated as a criminal matter, but as an administrative review of the White House’s process for handling classified material overseen by the ‘Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the source said. .
The special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents is also looking into possible obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has launched a review of Pence’s documents and how they ended up at his home in Indiana.
Trump reacted to the discovery of the Pence documents on Tuesday, writing on Truth Social: “Mike Pence is an innocent man. He never knowingly did anything dishonest in his life. Leave him alone!!”
Former Trump official says Pence’s classified documents make Biden’s case for him
For Biden administration officials and allies, who have been dogged in recent weeks by multiple revelations of classified documents found in Biden’s private office in Washington, D.C. and later at his home in Wilmington, In Delaware, Pence’s headline was welcome news, and even quietly celebrated.
As one senior administration official put it, “Turn the temperature down because this is a Biden-only story.”
One hope, this official said, was that the discovery of classified documents at Pence’s home would help underscore that Biden aides were not alone in making the mistake of packing classified documents that should have been turned over to the Archives. nationals
Another hope: The development could be used by the White House to try to emphasize that the most important thing is how the situation was handled once the classified documents were discovered, and continue to draw a distinction between the handling of the matter by of Biden’s legal team compared to the actions of Trump and his allies.
The White House largely deflected questions about Pence’s news on Tuesday. The decision not to engage publicly in the discovery was in part tied to the White House’s long-standing effort to stay out of ongoing reviews and investigations, one official said, noting the need to maintain consistency in this position
But there was also a view that it was more valuable to let Pence’s development stand on its own, a very different tactic than the deliberate contrast with Trump’s case.
But it’s one that underscores the careful navigation of what one official acknowledged was a “useful example” by another former vice president, dealing with issues that appeared to stem from the transition out of office, who has publicly stated that he had no knowledge that the documents classifieds were in his charge. possession The value of the fact that the former vice president served in a Republican administration was not made clear.
Beyond that, the official added, “We’ll let you draw your own conclusions about what this all means.”
That didn’t mean officials weren’t paying close attention to developments throughout the day, an effort that included closely monitoring Republican responses to news of Pence on Capitol Hill, with a particular interest in Republicans who have led or promised investigations . to Biden.