Obama, Clinton, and both Bushes turned over all classified documents trends now

Former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and both George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush turned over all their classified documents to the National Archives, their offices said on Wednesday.

Representatives of the four former commanders-in-chief said all classified materials were given to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) after each man left the White House. 

The statements come as President Joe Biden's administration has become engulfed in a crisis over having classified documents and former Vice President Mike Pence was revealed to have his own stash of classified material.

Obama's office noted that consistent with the Presidential Records Act, all of President Obama's classified records were submitted to the National Archives upon leaving office and that the archives has physical and legal custody of President Obama's materials to date.

'All of President Clinton's classified materials were properly turned over to NARA in accordance with the Presidential Records Act,' said Clinton's office. 

'That search was conducted before he left the White House, when all of his Presidential records – classified and unclassified – were turned over to the National Archives,' said a statement from Bush's office, speaking for Geoge W. and his late father, George H.W. Bush.

Representatives for former vice presidents Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Dan Quayle told CNN none of the men are holding classified material. 

The National Archives, meanwhile, is weighing whether to ask all the living former presidents and vice presidents to review their personal records to verify that there are no classified materials inadvertently still in their possesion, the Washington Post reported. 

Questions arose about what former top-ranking government officials may have classified documents among their papers after it was revealed Thursday that about a dozen classified documents were found in Pence's Indiana home.

The finding of the classified material raised questions on how the government handles such information and the packing up of administration officials after a presidency ends. 

Republican Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida told Fox News that the transition process 'is broken.'

'But I think the difference with Biden here is just how long this goes back,' he said on Tuesday.

And Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Fox that 'when it's all said and done maybe we are overclassifying things, that may be part of the problem. But count me in for getting this fixed.'

Pence's lawyer discovered the material when conducting a search at Pence's request last week. The boxes was immediately turned over to the FBI and the Justice Department is investigating. 

It is the third time classified documents have been found on the private property of a recent president or vice president and comes as special counsels are investigating Joe Biden and Donald Trump over similar incidents.

Pence's lawyer, Greg Jacob, said in his letter to the National Archives, that the former vice president had 'engaged outside counsel, with experience in handling classified documents' to review records stored at his home on Jan. 16 'out of an abundance of caution' amid the uproar over the discovery of documents at Biden's home. 

FBI agents visited Pence's residence the night of Jan. 19 at 9:30 p.m. to collect the documents that had been secured. The vice president was in Washington, DC for an event, at the time.

A total of four boxes containing copies of administration papers —- two in which 'a small number' of papers bearing classified markings were found, and two containing 'courtesy copies of vice presidential papers' — were discovered, according to the letter. Arrangements were made to deliver those boxes to the National Archives on Monday.

Republican Congressman James Comer of Kentucky and chair of the House Oversight Committee, said Pence reached out to offer his cooperation with the congressional panel.

'Former Vice President Pence's transparency stands in stark contrast to Biden White House staff who continue to withhold information from Congress and the American people,' he said in a statement. 

The White House wouldn't weigh in on whether a special counsel should investigate Pence's findings.

'That's for the Department of Justice to decide,' said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday. 

The documents were discovered in Pence's home in Carmel, Indiana, after the former vice president repeatedly said he didn't have any classified material in his possession. 

Pence told the AP in August that he did not take any classified information with him when he left office.

Asked directly if he had retained any such information, he said, 'No, not to my knowledge.'

The boxes originally went to a home the Pences had in Virginia and then went to the Indiana location after they purchased their residence there. Pence's Washington D.C. office also was

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