Vice President Mike Pence's team downplayed the story and dismissed any comparisons to the email controversy that plagued Hillary Clinton. | Getty Pence team downplays private email account usage

Vice President Mike Pence used a private AOL email account to conduct state business and was hacked while governor of Indiana, the Indianapolis Star reported on Thursday.

But Pence's team downplayed the story and dismissed any comparisons to the email controversy that plagued Hillary Clinton.


The report said Pence discussed sensitive matters and homeland security issues on the account, based on emails the Star obtained via a public records request, and an administration official confirmed that the account was hacked over the summer. The revelation comes after Pence regularly lambasted Clinton on the campaign trail for her use of a private email server as Secretary of State.

Pence's press secretary Marc Lotter dismissed any comparisons to the Clinton email controversy as "absurd," noting that Pence had been using the AOL account since the 1990s and did not set up a private server like Clinton did. He added that the use of a private email account by an Indiana governor was routine.

“Similar to previous governors, during his time as Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence maintained a state email account and a personal email account," he said in a statement. Lotter also said that Pence retained outside counsel to "review all of his communications to ensure that state-related emails are being transferred and properly archived by the state," as is required by Indiana law. That review is still being conducted.

And Lotter added that it would have been impossible for Pence to have emailed classified information, as Clinton did, because the Indiana governor did not have security clearance.

Pence's use of the private account had previously been reported by the Star.

President Donald Trump regularly assailed Clinton for her use of a private email server and said she should have been jailed for her actions. FBI director James Comey opted not to recommend prosecution against Clinton but said she and her staff had been "extremely careless" with classified information.