Mike Pence Used a Private AOL Email Account as Governor — and Then It Was Hacked

"You've got mail" is probably not the sound that a governor should hear when he signs into his professional email account. But according to recently unveiled public records, now-Vice President Mike Pence consistently used his private AOL email address to conduct official business while he was the governor of Indiana, including to send and receive emails about homeland security.

In a report published on March 2, The Indianapolis Star revealed it had obtained 29 pages of email records with topics "ranging from security gates at the governor's residence to the state's response to terror attacks across the globe." It is unknown if Pence discussed any classified topics using this address. Nonetheless, considering Hillary Clinton's use of a private email address was a major topic of discussion during the 2016 presidential election, it seems wildly hypocritical that Pence was holding onto this deep, AOL past of his own while criticizing her for similar behavior.

It's important to point out that Indiana law does allow public officials to use personal email addresses to prevent them from conducting personal matters with their official email addresses, "although the law is generally interpreted to mean that official business conducted on private email must be retained for public record purposes." Pence's AOL account was hacked last year, which brings up the big problem here: personal accounts aren't protected as intensely as government accounts, giving hackers easier access to information.

In October of 2016, Pence tweeted to "commend the FBI for reopening an investigation into Clinton's personal email server because no one is above the law" on behalf of himself and President Donald Trump.

Following the reports of his AOL email business, the Vice President's office released a statement to the newspaper. "Similar to previous governors, during his time as Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence maintained a state email account and a personal email account," the statement read. "As Governor, Mr. Pence fully complied with Indiana law regarding email use and retention. Government emails involving his state and personal accounts are being archived by the state consistent with Indiana law, and are being managed according to Indiana's Access to Public Records Act."

The statement did not address why Pence was using an AOL email account in the 21st century.