We can now add Vice President Mike Pence to the list of former presidents and vice presidents who have had classified information found in their homes. While there are marked differences between Donald Trump intentionally keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, and refusing to cooperate with authorities, and Pence and Joe Biden's apparent discovery of classified documents that inadvertently ended up in their homes — and were returned voluntarily and promptly — the commonality between these cases and others involving high-level officials is the lack of serious punishment.
As attorneys who have represented dozens of whistleblowers and media sources who have been criminally investigated, prosecuted and imprisoned for allegedly retaining or leaking classified information, we know there is a two-tiered system of justice when it comes to mishandling classified information: one for high-level and well-connected government officials, and another for whistleblowers and media sources. Powerful officials get a slap on the wrist, usually in the form of administrative punishments or no punishment at all. Whistleblowers and media sources at best have their careers ruined, and at worst must serve prison time, like our client Daniel Hale, an Air Force intelligence analyst who served in Afghanistan.
