Federal agents search Mike Pence's home - reports

The FBI is currently searching former US vice-president Mike Pence's home in Indiana for classified material, US media report.

It follows disclosures by Mr Pence's attorneys that they found "a small number" of classified files from his vice-presidency at the home last month.

The US Department of Justice has not yet confirmed that Friday's search is related to the classified file probe.

People familiar with the matter told US media the search was consensual.

That discovery was the most recent in a growing controversy that has already embroiled both former President Donald Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden.

Mr Trump faces a criminal investigation for allegedly mishandling classified documents, while Mr Biden faces a probe by the US Department of Justice.

The Wall Street Journal said the search was related to classified material, while a spokesperson for Mr Pence told CNN he is away, but a private attorney is present as the search gets under way.

The New York Times and Reuters also reported the search.

In January, representatives for Mr Pence sent a letter to the National Archives - the US government agency that manages the preservation of presidential records - alerting them that they had found classified documents in the former vice-presidents home.

Those materials have already been handed over to the FBI.

Classified records are supposed to go to the National Archives once an administration leaves office.

The documents were "inadvertently boxed and transported" to Mr Pence's home at the end of the Trump presidency, an attorney for Mr Pence has said.

The documents were found after Mr Pence sought out legal help from specialists in handling classified documents "out of an abundance of caution," following the discovery of classified files at Mr Biden's Delaware home and his private Washington DC office.

The FBI search of Mr Pence's residence comes after a search of Mr Biden's home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on 1 February.

No additional classified files were found in the nearly four-hour search of the property, lawyers for the president have said.

Mr Biden has said that his team did "what they should have done" by alerting officials immediately when classified files were found and that he is co-operating with the special counsel's investigation.

The FBI did not need to obtain a warrant for searches of Mr Biden's property, as his lawyers had agreed to the probe.

The federal force did, however, obtain a warrant for their search of Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida last year for classified documents.

To date, about 300 classified documents have been recovered from Mr Trump since his administration ended.

The search warrant came after attorneys representing Mr Trump had said all government records had been returned.

Mr Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he declassified any documents he took when he left the White House.