Aug. 30 (UPI) — The California Highway Patrol (CHP) will provide security for former Vice President Kamala Harris after she lost her Secret Service protection on Thursday.
California officials on Friday gave Harris dignitary status, which allows her to receive security from the CHP instead of the Secret Service, The Los Angeles Times reported.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom must approve the CHP security, but his office declined to comment. “Our office does not comment on security arrangements,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gordon told the Los Angeles Times.
Harris lives in Los Angeles and has a 15-city book tour starting in New York City on Sept. 24, according to USA Today.
The tour is planned to last 107 days, which would have needed advance Secret Service work if her protection had continued.
Outgoing vice presidents usually receive Secret Service protection for six months after leaving office. President Joe Biden extended Harris’ protection beyond six months at her aides’ request.
Harris kept her Secret Service protection until President Donald Trump ended it on Monday through a signed memorandum on Thursday.
Trump also ended Secret Service protection for his adult children, Hunter and Ashley Biden, after President Biden had extended it to them through July. Hunter Biden recently traveled to South Africa with his Secret Service team, The Washington Post reported.
Federal law provides lifetime Secret Service protection only for former presidents and first ladies.
Ending Harris’ extended protection also cancels all the extra protections that the former president provided just before Biden left office in January.
