Ranking Member Raskin Requests Secret Service Provide Visitor Information for Former President Trump, Former Vice President Pence’s Residences

Jan 31, 2023
Press Release

Washington, D.C. (Jan. 31, 2023)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, sent a letter to Kimberly A. Cheatle, Director of the United States Secret Service, requesting information on who had access to former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and former Vice President Mike Pence’s residence since leaving office.  The letter is part of Committee Democrats’ ongoing investigation into the safeguarding of presidential and classified records and is similar to the request made by Chairman James Comer that focused solely on classified documents that were discovered at President Biden’s private residence in Wilmington, Delaware. 

 

“Just last week, news reports revealed that attorneys for former Vice President Pence discovered approximately a dozen documents with classified markings at his home in Carmel, Indiana.  Given that the U.S. Secret Service provided protection for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence during the time they stored classified materials at their respective residences, the Committee is seeking information from your agency regarding who had access to former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and former Vice President Pence’s personal residence since leaving office,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.

 

As the Committee with primary jurisdiction over the Presidential Records Act, Oversight Committee Democrats have been investigating former President Trump’s mishandling of presidential records and classified records for more than a year. 

 

In August 2022, more than 11,000 government records were recovered as part of a court-approved search of the Mar-a-Lago Club after former President Trump’s attorneys had certified that all classified documents had already been turned over.  Among the documents recovered were more than 100 documents bearing classified markings, including documents with the government’s highest classification markings related to human source intelligence. 

 

Chairman James Comer failed to respond to Ranking Member Raskin’s requests to join the letter.  The Ranking Member asks that information be provided by February 14, 2023, to help provide the full scope of the former President’s and former Vice President’s conduct in order to determine what additional steps, including potential legislative reforms, may be needed to ensure that presidential records are preserved for the American people and classified records are secure.

 

Click here to read today’s letter.

 

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118th Congress