Judicial Watch
Washington, DC – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ VIP travel records (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:25-cv-00233)).
Judicial Watch filed the FOIA lawsuit after the Secret Service and the Air Force failed to respond to August 2024 requests for: “All records concerning use of U.S Government funds to provide security and/or other services to Vice President Kamala Harris and any companions while traveling.”
The Biden White House website reports that during her term as vice president, Kamala Harris made “17 foreign trips, traveling to 21 countries and meeting with over 150 world leaders …” There are no publicly available flight logs or other records that provide details about who accompanied her on these trips.
Just before Vice President Harris’ last official trip in early January 2025, AP reported that her husband, Doug Emhoff, was expected to accompany her to Singapore, Bahrain and Germany. However, this is the only non-governmental person specifically mentioned as accompanying her on any official trip.
“It seems rather obvious these Biden agencies hid details on Kamala Harris’ jaunts in order to help her presidential campaign,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Judicial Watch’s investigations into government travel records are extensive.
In 2021, Judicial Watch uncovered White House travel records from the Secret Service in response to FOIA requests for all records concerning the use of U.S. government funds to provide security and/or any other services to President Biden and any companions. These records detailed Secret Service travel costs of $2,252,600.50 for President Joe Biden through August 8, 2021, for travel to Delaware and other domestic locations.
In June 2020, Judicial Watch received records from the U.S. Secret Service showing that during the first five-and-a-half years of the Obama administration, Hunter Biden traveled extensively while receiving a Secret Service protective detail. During the time period of the records provided, Hunter Biden took 411 separate domestic and international flights, including to 29 different foreign countries. He visited China five times. (During the last year and a half of the Obama administration, Hunter Biden served on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings while his father was heading up Ukraine policy.)
In September 2018, Judicial Watch sued for information on the travel expenses of President Trump. From a separate lawsuit, Secret Service produced expense records totaling $3,024,036.50, which brought the known total for presidential travel expenses at that time to $17,224,938.46 and included the operation of Air Force One.
In September 2017, Judicial Watch obtained travel records from the Secret Service in response to a FOIA lawsuit, which brought the known total of travel expenses for former President Barack Obama and his family to $105,662,975.27. To date, Judicial Watch has uncovered total travel expenses of the Obamas amounting to $114,691,322.17.
In 2016, Judicial Watch sued for records concerning travel costs for members of Congress.
In 2011, Judicial Watch reported on records detailing a massive Pelosi-led bipartisan congressional junket to the Detroit Auto Show, as well as records showing Michelle Obama’s family trip to Africa cost taxpayers at least $424,142.
Judicial Watch uncovered that the Obama’s 2009 “date night” trip to New York for dinner and a Broadway show cost taxpayers over $11,000 in Secret Service costs alone.
Beginning in 2009, after the media failed to follow up on concerns raised about Nancy Pelosi’s use of luxury Air Force jets to travel between her congressional district and DC, Judicial Watch’s FOIA requests exposed her abuse of this travel perk. Judicial Watch uncovered that Pelosi’s military travel to Italy and Ukraine in 2015 cost the taxpayers $184,587.81, as well as $2,100,744.59 over one two-year period — $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol.
