Breaking News: Mike Pence Has an Email Problem

[Content Note: Videos may autoplay at links preceded by an asterisk.]

Well, it's not breaking news to this readership, since I've been linking to reporting by the Indy Star about it since last year. At least regarding the erstwhile governor's fight with the Indiana Supreme Court to protect his redacted emails. Just on Tuesday, for example, I linked *this piece by Fatima Hussein, whose been on this story *for months.

But there's a big new story by Tony Cook on Pence's email problem, which is deservedly getting a lot of attention: *Pence Used Personal Email for State Business—and Was Hacked.

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 IndyStar 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.

Cyber-security 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.

...Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb's office released 29 pages of emails from Pence's AOL account, but declined to release an unspecified number of others because the state considers them confidential and too sensitive to release to the public.

...Pence fiercely criticized Clinton throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, accusing her of trying to keep her emails out of public reach and exposing classified information to potential hackers.

In fact, during the vice-presidential debate last October, Pence said if his son or Tim Kaine's son, both of whom are Marines, had "handled classified information the way Hillary Clinton did, they would be court-martialed." Welp.

That Pence is a hypocrite of colossal proportions is not news. It is also not news that he is a contemptible scofflaw, who routinely engaged in gross abuses of power while serving as governor of Indiana.

That is, it's not news to anyone who lived under his governance, or paid the slightest bit of attention to it.

He is a deeply corrupt man who doesn't think bigotry is deplorable, but does think it's a pretty solid legislative agenda. He is a scoundrel and a liar, and most of all he is a shameless projectionist: Whatever it is of which he's accusing his political opponents, you can be certain he's the one doing it.

Case in point today.

The most important takeaway from this story is that Pence is just as crooked as the rest of the Trump administration. I hope the Democrats are keenly aware of that, as they pursue accountability for these vandals.