Judicial Watch Sues for Records on Kamala Harris Secret Service Motorcade Accident

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for records on a 2022 car accident involving Vice President Kamala Harris’s Secret Service motorcade (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:24-cv-02752)).

The suit was filed after the agency failed to respond to a July 19, 2024, Judicial Watch FOIA request for:

1. Any and all emails and text messages sent to and from members of the Vice-Presidential Protection Division regarding the October 3, 2022, accident involving the vehicle carrying Vice President Kamala Harris and/or the driving skills/abilities of the agent driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.

2. All waivers for defensive driver classes granted to USSS special agents involved in vehicular accidents with official vehicles.

3. Records reflecting directives for USSS special agents to undergo defensive driver classes as a result of being involved in accidents with official vehicles.

The New York Post reported in October 2022 that “Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a minor car accident Monday, one that was initially — and falsely — dismissed as ‘mechanical failure.’” The driver of her SUV struck a curb hard enough “that the tire needed to be replaced, bringing the VP’s motorcade to a standstill.” NBC reported that the vehicle had been partially airborne.

“The Biden-Harris Secret Service is in a dangerous tailspin and literally can’t drive straight,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And rather than be forthcoming about these issues with the American people, the Secret Service is engaged is a series of mounting and unlawful cover-ups.”

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton’s new book, Rights and Freedoms in Peril, details some of Judicial Watch’s numerous lawsuits and disclosures about Secret Service controversies.

On September 3, 2024, following up on reports that the Biden Secret Service denied President Trump’s requests for additional Secret Service protection, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for all Secret Service and other records regarding potential increased protective services to former President Trump’s security detail prior to the attempt on his life at his July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:24-cv-02495)).

On August 23, Judicial Watch received USSS records that show the Secret Service has made it a top priority that “diversity and inclusion is not just ‘talked about’ – but demonstrated by all employees through ‘Every Action, Every Day.’” [Emphasis in original] The records show the Secret Service, demands that 12 percent of its workforce be composed of “persons with disabilities,” and that it is the policy of the Secret Service to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to such non-merit factors as “disability (physical or mental).”

In August 2024, Judicial Watch received records from the district attorney’s office in Butler County, PA, detailing the extensive preparation of local police for the rally at which former President Trump was shot. The preparation included sniper teams, counter assault teams and a quick response force.

In August 2024, Judicial Watch announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) withheld information on a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information about its coordination with the U.S. Secret Service regarding the July 13 Butler, PA, rally at which former President Trump was shot. In denying Judicial Watch’s FOIA request, the FBI cites FOIA exemption 7(A), which applies to information that “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings”

On August 9, in response to a separate open records request, Judicial Watch obtained bodycam footage of the July 13 assassination events from the Butler Township Police Department.

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