Vice President Kamala Harris during a Tuesday interview said she has full confidence in the US Secret Service following the apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump this past weekend.
While speaking with the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia, Harris was asked if she felt safe under the protection of the agency — and she agreed with the statement.
“I do,” the vice president said.
But she quickly pivoted the issue of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, who in recent weeks have been the subject of unsubstantiated claims amplified by former President Donald Trump and GOP vice-presidential nominee JD Vance that local pets are being taken and eaten.
In recent days, a wave a threats have prompted closures and evacuations across the city of Springfield, impacting local schools and government buildings.
“You can go back to Ohio,” Harris told the NABJ moderators. “Not everybody has Secret Service. And there are far too many people in this country who are not feeling safe.”
“Yes, I feel safe. I have Secret Service protection,” she continued. “But that doesn’t change my perspective of the importance of fighting for the safety of everybody in our country.”
Harris during her NABJ interview also revealed that she had spoken to Trump after the incident on Sunday at the former president’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“I checked on him to see if he was ok,” the vice president said. “I told him what I said publicly: there’s no place for political violence in our country.”
Harris then went on to define what she saw as the stakes in the November election, emphatically stating that everyone should reject any sort of political violence in the public sphere.
“I am in this election and in this race for many reasons, including to fight for our democracy,” she continued. “In a democracy, there is no place for political violence. We can and should have healthy debate and discussions and disagreements, but not resort to violence to resolve those issues.”
The apparent assassination attempt against Trump on Sunday comes after a July attempt to assassinate the former president during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has come under intense scrutiny over their handling of the earlier shooting incident, where Trump was wounded in his ear.
