Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues.
Emails released to The Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network, in response to a public records request show Pence communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor’s residence to the state’s response to terror attacks across the globe. In one email, Pence’s top state homeland security adviser relayed an update from the FBI regarding the arrests of several men on federal terror-related charges.
Cybersecurity experts say the emails raise concerns about whether such sensitive information was adequately protected from hackers, given that personal accounts like Pence’s are typically less secure than government email accounts. In fact, Pence’s personal account was hacked last summer.
Furthermore, advocates for open government expressed concerns about transparency because personal emails aren’t immediately captured on state servers that are searched in response to public records requests.
Pence’s office in Washington said in a written statement Thursday: “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. 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.”
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office released more than 30 pages from Pence’s AOL account, but declined to release an unspecified number of emails because the state considers them confidential and too sensitive to release to the public.
OH E-MAIL SHE-MAIL! Wait, that did not come out right. I meant SHME-MAIL or something.
But he didn’t delete them.
“Ha! See? He broke the law!”
Hillary did the same thing…
“… OK. So, it wasn’t the BEST thing he could have done. But this does prove that the Russians are in bed with … uh … DAMMIT! Yer screwing up our narrative!”
They all probably do and this cavalier attitude is why China has about reached parity with us in advanced weapons, Russia is retaking countries once under their orbit and Iran is spitting in our face. Now we have a man that clearly sees the danger and wants to do something about it, he gets these petty games in DC. man, are we sinking fast.
Did he keep his own server in the restroom?
Are/were there laws against it in Indiana as there were federal laws specifically prohibiting use of personal email for Hildabast (which she fired an underling for violating?)
This leaking has gone way beyond someone needing to stick a great big finger in the dike.
Besides, Supreme Court Justice Kagan isn’t the source of the leak and she’d enjoy it.
….well I heard he wore white socks with a black suit once to a funeral.
Well, he never INTENDED to get hacked …
No crime, no foul …
izlamo delenda est …
Page got it right. This is a state issue, not federal.
Damn, can’t anyone in government do anything right, proper and legal?
Of course, we will need to subpoena all the records from the Pence Foundation…
It is ridiculous to see this story presented with experts to explain why this is so serious. Where were they the last 2 years? And lets not forget OBAMA also had a private email we know about because of Clinton’s emails.
That aside, I really do not understand anyone in government using anything other than their official email to conduct business. You get fired for doing that in the private sector. And AOL, Yahoo, Gmail etc.? You’re a public official, you think there aren’t hackers out there that are going to figure that out?
So the big problem for those on the left will be how to prosecute Pence for this while giving Hitlery a pass. Can’t wait to see Chris Mathews et al twist themselves into a pretzel.