The New York Times reports that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has chosen not to charge former Vice President Mike Pence in regard to his improper possession of classified documents.
According to the outlet, Pence was informed by the DOJ that it will not pursue these charges in a "brief letter" that it sent to Pence on Thursday.
The Times highlights how conveniently timed this all appears to be.
Per the outlet:
Word that the case would be closed came days before Mr. Pence, 63, was set to announce his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in Iowa.
This all comes after one of Pence's attornies, earlier this year, found some classified documents at Pence's home in Indiana.
Once the documents were found, Pence and his people handed the documents over to the government and proceeded to participate in a subsequent investigation that the government led into the matter, including by allowing the FBI to search his residence for more classified documents.
Apparently, the DOJ did not find anything unsavory about the situation.
Part of the letter that Pence's attorney received from the DOJ on Thursday has been published.
It reads:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department’s National Security Division have conducted an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information. Based on the results of that investigation, no criminal charges will be sought.
Over the past year, we have seen three high-profile classified documents cases: one involving Pence, one involving former President Donald Trump, and one involving President Joe Biden. First, it was Trump, then Biden, and finally Pence.
There are some notable differences between the three. Perhaps, the biggest difference of all is that the FBI only raided Trump's residence and that, thus far, the DOJ has only been pursuing criminal charges against Trump.
Trump and allies have used this as evidence of a two-tier justice system. But, the political left has claimed that the key difference is that Biden and Pence cooperated with the DOJ, whereas Trump did not - something that Trump has disputed.
Trump has released a statement in response to the news that the DOJ will not be pursuing charges against Pence.
Trump, on Truth Social, wrote:
Just announced that they are not going to bring charges against Mike Pence on the document hoax. That’s great, but when am I going to be fully exonerated, I’m at least as innocent as he is. And what about Joe Biden, who is hiding at least 1850 boxes, and some located in Chinatown, DC? When will the witch hunt against “TRUMP” stop?
