A Republican senator is pressing the Secret Service on how it let Vice President Kamala Harris near a pipe bomb planted outside Democratic National Committee headquarters last year, calling it a “potential lapse in security.”
Harris, whom the Department of Justice had previously falsely claimed was at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, was in fact at the DNC offices. A pipe bomb was planted outside prior to Harris’s visit and was not detected by her security detail, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin noted in a letter to the Secret Service.
“Given that Secret Service reportedly swept the areas in and around the DNC headquarters prior to Harris’s arrival on January 6, 2021, it seems odd that agents did not immediately discover the pipe bomb that was reportedly located next to a park bench at that location,” Johnson wrote to the Secret Service on Wednesday.
Another pipe bomb was also placed in an alley outside the Republican National Committee headquarters the night before, with the suspect remaining unknown more than a year later. The bomb behind the RNC was discovered at 12:45 p.m. and the one outside the DNC some 22 minutes later.
It was first reported on the anniversary of the Capitol riot that Harris was inside the DNC headquarters when a pipe bomb was discovered outside the building, with an unnamed “protectee” (Harris) being evacuated seven minutes after it was found.
Johnson said he wanted the Secret Service to answer when it conducted its sweep of the DNC before Harris’s arrival, which specific areas were swept, and why the Secret Service didn’t discover the bomb.
The senator also asked whether the Secret Service has “conducted an internal review of this potential lapse in security” and asked the agency to hand over all related information from the review.
“Has this potential lapse in security been referred to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General?” Johnson asked. “If not, please explain why.”
PIPE BOMB PLANTER STILL UNIDENTIFIED MORE THAN YEAR AFTER CAPITOL RIOT
Meanwhile, the DOJ has been reversing its monthslong false court claims that Harris had been inside the Capitol building when it was stormed.
Secret Service special agent Jason Jolly said in a declaration filed by the Justice Department on Thursday that he was assigned to protect Harris last year on Jan. 6 during her visit to the Capitol, noting that Harris was present at the Capitol prior to that day’s joint session of Congress but left later that morning. She did not return until 7 p.m., long after the riot had been quelled, he said.
Numerous indictments and other court filings involving suspects arrested in connection with the riot made the false claim.
“The government incorrectly stated that Vice President-Elect Harris was present in the U.S. Capitol at the time of the attack,” the Justice Department admitted in a November court filing.
A video released by the FBI shows the suspect wearing a gray hoodie, a face mask, gloves, and black and light gray Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a yellow logo, carrying a bag as the person strolled through the Capitol Hill neighborhood between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5.
The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification or arrest of the pipe bomb suspect in early January, and that reward was increased to $75,000, then to $100,000.
The bureau said that the components of the devices include 1-by-8-inch threaded, galvanized pipes, a kitchen timer, and homemade black powder.
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It has been widely speculated that the pipe bombs were planted in connection with the Capitol riot the next day, but that has not been proven.
Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said in March that the pipe bombs were real weapons, saying, “It appears they weren’t armed properly. … But they were not hoax devices.”
