Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a minor car accident earlier this week, the Secret Service said Thursday, and the agency now says her vehicle struck a curb after initially reporting mechanical failure.
“During a protective movement Monday, a vehicle in a motorcade had a minor overcorrection and struck a curb,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement on Thursday. “The protectee was transferred to a secondary vehicle and the motorcade continued to its destination. There were no injuries to anyone.”
Guglielmi also said: “Initial radio traffic indicated this was a mechanical failure and that was communicated to agency leadership by personnel supporting the motorcade movement. After the protective movement was completed, leadership was verbally updated with additional pertinent facts that the vehicle struck a curb.”
The car accident involving the vice president, and the subsequent discrepancy in how it was initially reported internally, is the latest incident to thrust the agency into the spotlight this year and raises fresh questions about its transparency both internally and publicly.
The incident occurred on Harris’ regular route to work. Her spokeswoman, Kirsten Allen, said the vice president has “an immense amount of gratitude” for her Secret Service detail.
“The Vice President sustained no injuries and appreciates the quick response by her USSS detail to get her to the White House safely,” Allen said.
The Washington Post first reported on the discrepancy in describing the incident and that it concerned the new Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle, who started in her post last month.
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.
Before taller fences were installed around the White House during the Trump administration, agents repeatedly had to respond to individuals who had jumped onto the White House lawn.
During the Obama administration, party crashers at a state dinner required an investigation that found agents did not follow protocol at a security checkpoint. And 11 Secret Service members were implicated in an investigation over whether several agents brought prostitutes back to their hotel in Colombia ahead of a presidential visit.
The Washington Post in 2014 also reported on a series of security lapses after a man fired a semi-automatic rifle from outside the White House at its facade, including that Secret Service did not conduct a proper investigation until days after the incident.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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