On January 6th, when the Capitol building was breached by rioters, the Justice Department had noted that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was among the people present there. The Department has now acknowledged that Harris was in fact away from the Capitol during the riot and only returned later to cast a vote.
“[T]he government incorrectly stated that Vice President-Elect Harris was present in the U.S. Capitol at the time of the attack,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing in one Jan. 6 case Tuesday. “In fact, Vice President-Elect Harris was not present at that particular time, though she was present earlier in the day and was present later that day.”
A source told Politico that Harris already had plans to leave the building after the Senate Intelligence Committee briefing, and her associates stressed that she tends to keep her location under wraps for safety reasons.
Harris and the vice president at the time, Mike Pence, were the two Secret Service protectees in the building that day, and court filings in cases against alleged Capitol rioters have mentioned illegal entry into a “restricted” area where someone under Secret Service protection was visiting. Pence was present to preside over the certification and was rushed to safety when rioters entered.
