OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Kamala Harris’ life was in actual danger during the incident at the Capitol last year when a furious mob rampaged.
The current vice president was apparently in the Democrat National Committee headquarters on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. when one of the pipe bombs that was planted that day was discovered, Politico reported.
Capitol Police began investigating the pipe bomb at 1:07 p.m., according to an official Capitol Police timeline of events obtained by POLITICO. The timeline says that Capitol Police and the Secret Service evacuated an unnamed “protectee” at approximately 1:14 p.m, seven minutes later. The four people, among them a White House official and a former law enforcement official, confirmed that Harris was the Secret Service protectee identified in the timeline, which has circulated on Capitol Hill.
Harris’ presence inside the building while a bomb was right outside raises sobering questions about her security that day. It also raises the chilling prospect that the riots could have been far more destructive than they already were, with the incoming vice president’s life directly endangered. Federal law enforcement officials have faced harsh criticism for failing to anticipate the chaotic scene around the Electoral College certification one year ago, despite receiving a host of warnings about possible chaos.
The DNC bomb threat was neutralized at 4:36 p.m., according to the timeline. Another pipe bomb discovered at the RNC was neutralized at 3:33 p.m. No suspects have been arrested so far in relation to the bombs.
The bombs were not fake props either. The FBI has described them as “viable” and said they “could have been detonated, resulting in serious injury or death.”
During her speech on Thursday Harris did not mention that she was in the DNC headquarters when the bomb was present.
“I had left, but my thoughts immediately turned not only to my colleagues but to my staff who had been forced to seek refuge in our office, converting filing cabinets into barricades,” the vice president said.
It was the least ridiculous thing that she said during that speech.
In a speech calling from the Capitol on Thursday, the vice president claimed that “Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were, and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault.”
For the record, roughly 2,400 Americans died during the attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
A reported 2,996 people were killed during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Below is a transcript of her comments:
Fellow Americans, good morning. Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault. Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars but a place in our collective memory. December 7th, 1941. September 11th, 2001.
And January 6th, 2021. On that day, I was not only vice president-elect, I was also a United States senator. And I was here at the Capitol that morning at a classified hearing with fellow members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Hours later, the gates of the Capitol were breached. I had left, but my thoughts immediately turned not only to my colleagues but to my staff, who had been forced to seek refuge in our office, converting filing cabinets into barricades.
What the extremists who roamed these halls targeted was not only the lives of elected leaders. What they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is.
What they were assaulting were the institutions, the values, the ideals, that generations of Americans have marched, picketed, and shed blood to establish and defend. On January 6th, we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful: the lawlessness, the violence, the chaos.
What was at stake then and now is the right to have our future decided the way the Constitution prescribes it, by we, the people, all the people. We cannot let our future be decided by those bent on silencing our voices, overturning our votes, and peddling lies and misinformation; by some radical faction that may be newly resurgent, but whose roots run old and deep.
When I meet with young people, they often ask about the state of our democracy, about January 6th, and what I tell them is January 6th reflects the dual nature of democracy, its fragility, and its strength.
