Past US presidents, VPs asked to 'recheck' for secret files

National Archives asks former presidents and vice presidents extending back to Ronald Reagan to recheck for classified documents in their possession, AP news agency reports.

Handling of classified documents has been a problem off and on for decades, from presidents to Cabinet members and staff across multiple administrations.
AP Archive

Handling of classified documents has been a problem off and on for decades, from presidents to Cabinet members and staff across multiple administrations.

The US National Archives has asked former presidents and vice presidents to recheck their personal records for any classified documents following the news that President Joe Biden and former vice president Mike Pence had such documents in their possession, two people familiar with the matter said.

The Archives sent a letter on Thursday to representatives of former presidents and vice presidents extending back to Ronald Reagan to ensure compliance with the Presidential Records Act, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak about investigations.

The act states that any records created or received by the president are the property of the US government and will be managed by the archives at the end of the administration.

The Archives sent the letter to representatives of former presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, George H W Bush and Ronald Reagan, and former vice presidents Pence, Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle, they said.

The letter was first reported by CNN.

READ MORE: Secret US documents found at ex-VP Mike Pence's home

Biden's lawyers came across classified documents from his time as vice president in a locked cabinet as they were packing up an office he no longer uses in November.

Since then, subsequent searches by the FBI and Biden's lawyers have turned up more documents.

Former vice president Pence, too, this week, discovered documents and turned them in after saying previously he did not believe he had any.

READ MORE: FBI finds more classified documents at Biden's Delaware home

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