Vice President Pence’s staff pushed back Friday against reports that, as governor of Indiana, Pence violated state law by conducting government business with his personal email account.
“Similar to previous governors, during his time as governor of Indiana, Mike Pence maintained a state email account and a personal email account,” Marc Lotter, spokesman for Pence, said in a statement issued Friday.
“As then-Gov. Pence concluded his time in office, he directed outside counsel to review all of his communications to ensure that state-related emails are being transferred and properly archived by the state, in accordance with the law, which outside counsel has done and is continuing to do,” Lotter said.
Pence used a personal email account hosted by AOL to discuss state business with his advisers, the Indianapolis Star reported Thursday evening. That account was hacked last summer, according to the report.
The White House has dismissed any comparisons between Pence’s personal email use and the private server Hillary Clinton used while she was secretary of state, arguing Pence’s position did not require him to handle highly classified information, as Clinton’s did, and noting that he did not set up a server system for the purpose of evading archival requirements.
“Government emails involving his state and personal accounts are being archived by the state and are being managed according to Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act.,” Lotter said in his statement.
