OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A vehicle carrying Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in an accident earlier this week as the Secret Service was taking her to work Monday morning, but the agency has caused somewhat of a stir for the way the situation was handled, according to a report by the Washington Post.
The paper said that the Secret Service agent driving Harris’ vehicle down a street that was closed struck a curb so hard that the motorcade had to stop temporarily to replace the tire. However, the Secret Service did not immediately report the incident in that manner, the Post reported.
“Harris had to be transferred to another vehicle in the motorcade so agents could safely spirit her to the White House,” the Post added. “The routine nature of the travel and the high level of training required for agents who drive the president and vice president led many in the Secret Service, as well as Harris, to question how such an accident could happen.”
The Post noted further:
The Secret Service also failed to note key details of the incident in an electronic message formally alerting senior leadership to the motorcade’s delay. The agency’s protective intelligence division reported that “a mechanical failure” in the lead car had forced agents to transfer Harris to another vehicle during a scheduled movement to the White House, according to details of the alert shared with The Washington Post.
By Monday afternoon, Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle received information from other agents that the alert did not accurately convey what happened, one of the people said. In fact, many other Secret Service agents on Harris’s detail and at the White House, as well as Harris, knew her driver had actually hit the side pavement of a tunnel.
As for Harris, a spokeswoman said that she is always grateful for the protection provided to her by the Secret Service. “The Vice President sustained no injuries and appreciates the quick response by her USSS detail to get her to the White House safely,” Kirsten Allen said in an emailed statement to the Post.
“During a protective movement Monday, a vehicle in a motorcade had a minor overcorrection and struck a curb,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, adding that the driver overcorrected. “The protectee was transferred to a secondary vehicle, and the motorcade continued to its destination. There were no injuries to anyone.”
“Initial radio traffic indicated this was a mechanical failure, and that was communicated to agency leadership by personnel supporting the motorcade movement,” Guglielmi noted. “After the protective movement was completed, leadership was verbally updated with additional pertinent facts that the vehicle struck a curb.”
The Secret Service was back in the headlines earlier this week following a report that turned more than a few heads. The agency has admitted again that it does not have any records of who visited the president in his home state where he has spent approximately a fourth of his presidency, The New York Post reported.
The agency made the baffling claim in its denial of a Freedom of Information Act appeal from The Post. Secret Service deputy director Faron Paramore wrote in a letter dated Sept. 27 that “the agency conducted an additional search of relevant program offices for potentially responsive records.”
“This search also produced no responsive records,” Paramore wrote. “Accordingly, your appeal is denied.” The Post is evaluating legal options to acquire records of who visited the president during the nearly 200 days he was at his Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach homes.
“The claim that there are no visitor logs for President Biden’s Delaware residence is a bunch of malarkey,” Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer said.
“Americans deserve to know who President Biden is meeting with, especially since we know that he routinely met with [first son] Hunter’s business associates during his time as vice president,” he said.
In April, the Secret Service said it did not have any records of who President Joe Biden meets with when he is at his home in Delaware, where he has spent considerable time during his presidency.
