A Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris’s protection team has been removed after being involved in a physical altercation with colleagues at Joint Base Andrews. The incident occurred on Monday, just minutes before Harris was scheduled to depart for New York.
The unnamed agent was “removed from their assignment” immediately, the Secret Service confirmed. In a statement to the New York Post, spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: “A US Secret Service special agent supporting the Vice President’s departure from Joint Base Andrews began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing.”
“The US Secret Service takes the safety and health of our employees very seriously.”
Medical personnel was asked to intervene due to a “medical matter,” but Guglielmi would not disclose “any further details.” The Secret Service spokesman said the vice president was informed about the clash afterward.
The agents involved had been at the base to support Harris’s departure for New York City, but the fight did not delay her travel plans.
According to a report into the incident, the armed agent who kicked off the fight suddenly became aggressive toward colleagues.
The altercation broke out after another special agent and a detail shift supervisor advised them to cool off, the report states. The agent allegedly started to behave “erratically” after reaching Joint Base Andrews and started punching the special agent in charge of Harris after getting on top of him, according to RealClearPolitics.
Once colleagues managed to pull him off, the enraged agent was cuffed and received medical attention. The report claimed concerns about the agent’s behavior had already been raised in the past.
