Vice President Mike Pence used a personal email account to conduct official business while he served as the governor of Indiana, the Indianapolis Star reported Thursday evening.
The Indianapolis Star reviewed emails obtained through a public information request, which show that Pence used a personal AOL account to communicate with staff about a range of topics, including about homeland security issues. Pence’s top homeland security adviser sent Pence an update from the FBI to his personal email about men arrested on federal terror-related charges, according to the Indianapolis Star. Pence’s email was hacked into last summer, per the Indianapolis Star.
Pence’s office issued a statement to the Indianapolis Start acknowledging that he used a personal email account as governor and stating that he followed the law.
“Similar to previous governors, during his time as Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence maintained a state email account and a personal email account. As Governor, Mr. Pence fully complied with Indiana law regarding email use and retention,” Pence’s office said in a statement. “Government emails involving his state and personal accounts are being archived by the state consistent with Indiana law, and are being managed according to Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act.”
The Vice President criticized Hillary Clinton’s used of a private email server on the campaign trail, once calling the FBI’s decision not to bring charges against the former secretary of state “troubling” and “incomprehensible.”
A spokesman for Pence, Mark Lotter, told the Indianpolis Star that a comparison between Clinton’s email use and Pence’s email use was “absurd,” arguing that Pence did not share federal classified material.
Read the Indianapolis Star’s full report here.
