Former Vice President Mike Pence said he “would expect” former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to have known about an order from former President Donald Trump to declassify documents before leaving the White House.
Pence's comment's come after Meadows reportedly told investigators in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that he didn't remember Trump having a “standing order” to declassify documents as they left the White House, per ABC News on Sunday.
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"I would expect so," Pence said on ABC News's This Week on Sunday when asked if he believes Meadows would have known about a declassification order, "But again, I sure hope we're not getting back into the lane of leaks from the justice department about these cases."
Pence pointed to the special counsel investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, saying, “We haven't heard a peep out of that.”
Former Vice Pres. Mike Pence tells @JonKarl that he “would expect” that former Pres. Trump’s then-chief of staff Mark Meadows would have known about some kind of broad order from Trump to declassify documents before leaving the White House. https://t.co/W0eSAYVIk3 pic.twitter.com/4KAQiz0faa
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 20, 2023
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“Look, President Trump is entitled to a presumption of innocence,” Pence said about his presidential 2024 rival. “He's entitled to his day in court, and I'm just not going to comment on the latest leak or the latest reporting coming out of that process.”
Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 criminal charges related to the mishandling of classified materials that he was keeping in boxes at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. A superseding indictment added new charges to the former president and longtime aide Walt Nauta and charged a new figure, Carlos De Oliveira, a maintenance worker at his Florida estate.