How Is It That We’re Just Now Finding Out About VP Kamala Harris’ Car Accident?
Did you know that y’all’s vice president was in a fender bender on Monday morning and nobody said anything?
USA Today reports that the car in which Vice President Kamala Harris was riding in her motorcade was in a minor accident on its way to the White House early this week. No one was hurt and the Secret Service quickly transferred her to another vehicle to continue the ride.
Sounds uneventful, right? Pretty much, except for the part where info about the crash’s cause, which may not have been exactly accurate, started leaking out, forcing the administration to clarify.
“Initial radio traffic indicated this was a mechanical failure and that was communicated to agency leadership by personnel supporting the motorcade movement,” Guglielmi [a Secret Service spokesman] said in the statement. “After the protective movement was completed, leadership was verbally updated with additional pertinent facts that the vehicle struck a curb.”
So Veep’s car hit a curb, and she’s all good. Nothin’ to see here. But, as CNN points out, the Secret Service itself hasn’t exactly been a model citizen of late, and the public confusion over what caused the crash of a car that contained the first Black vice-president isn’t exactly inspiring confidence.
It’s the latest incident in a year that has seen the Secret Service under increased scrutiny.
In April, four Secret Service employees were put on leave after being accused in a federal investigation of being duped by two men claiming to be Department of Homeland Security agents.
A month later, two Secret Service employees were sent home from South Korea following an altercation with a cab driver and two Korean nationals just as Biden embarked on his first Asia tour since taking office.
And in July, a member of the US Secret Service Counter Assault Team was detained by the Israeli national police in Jerusalem after he allegedly assaulted a woman outside of a bar.
Agents’ actions and the agency’s data retention have also been examined by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
Over the last decade, the Secret Service has been scrutinized over troubling security lapses and repeated misconduct among its ranks.
Somebody might want to ask the men in black to get it all the way together.