According to the Indianapolis Star, Pence used a personal email account (an AOL account, proving that he is indeed a grumpy old man with Lego hair) to conduct official business, including matters of homeland security, when he was governor of Indiana. While public officials are not barred from using private email accounts in Indiana, they are supposed to retain and record any emails involving official business for the public record. Per the Star’s reporting, Pence did not start preserving his private emails until he was leaving the governor’s office.
The funniest part of the story is that Pence’s AOL account was hacked in the same way old people’s accounts have been hacked since email has existed: “Pence’s account was actually compromised last summer by a scammer who sent an email to his contacts claiming Pence and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and in urgent need of money.” Pence had to send an email apologizing to his friends and family.
Of course, EMAILS: Mike Pence Edition is not quite as damning as the not-so-damning Hillary Clinton private email server situation, in which she was dealing with classified information as secretary of state. But it’s still a double-standard for Pence, who excoriated Clinton during the campaign for her lack of transparency and diligence.