Andrew Harnik / AP
Vice President Mike Pence used his personal AOL email address for public business while he was governor, and it once was hacked, the Indianapolis Star reported on Thursday.
The Star obtained some of Pence's privately sent emails about state business months after making a public records request. Some of the emails from the AOL account were not released because the information was considered too sensitive, the Star reported.
The Indiana governor's office and the White House did not immediately return BuzzFeed News requests for comment.
Pence reportedly used the AOL account to discuss business that included Indiana's response to terrorism as well as other security-related matters. At one point, a scammer obtained access and sent a message to Pence's contacts, claiming that the governor and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and needed money, the Star reported.
Pence then sent an apology to his contacts and opened another AOL email account, the Star reported.
During the 2016 campaign, Pence was a fierce critic of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for using a private email server while she was secretary of state.
In September, Clinton's private emails prompted Pence to call her the most dishonest candidate since Richard Nixon.
"What's evident from all of the revelations over the last several weeks is that Hillary Clinton operated in such a way to keep her emails, and particularly her interactions while Secretary of State with the Clinton Foundation, out of the public reach, out of public accountability," Pence told NBC News.
Indiana state law does not require public officials to use a government email address, but documents and communications should be preserved and managed in accordance with public record laws.
As he was leaving the governor's office, Pence worked with a private counsel to transfer his private emails into government hands, the Star reported.
But those emails were shielded from public review while Pence was in office, transparency advocates pointed out.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2lFtG59
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