Republican senators were surprised to learn about the
discovery of classified material at the Indiana home of former Vice President
Mike Pence, in yet another twist involving top U.S. government officials and their handling of sensitive documents.
“What the heck?” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said to reporters after
CNN first broke the news Tuesday.
“I don’t get it,” added Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who often handles classified information as part of his job serving on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“Anybody that deals with classified materials knows they have to be maintained in a secure place and not be available to our adversaries by putting them into a place that’s easily penetrated. So, it’s not good,” Cornyn added.
“I can understand the president having documents … but a vice president or a senator? I mean, you’re not that important. Come on,” Tuberville told HuffPost when asked about the Pence revelation.
“It’s either incompetence, not paying enough attention, or you’re doing it on purpose,” he added.
“What the hell’s going on around here?” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), another Senate Intelligence Committee member,
told reporters when asked for his reaction to the news.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he planned to seek an intelligence review and damage assessment of the classified documents from Pence’s home, as he did for those found in Biden’s home and offices, to check for possible national security concerns.
“It is a serious matter for any government official to mishandle classified documents,”
Turner tweeted.