Kamala Harris’ taxpayer-funded security will be stripped in November if Steve Hilton wins the gubernatorial race, the Republican has vowed.
The former vice president sparked outrage when it emerged on Tuesday she was having California Highway Patrol cops follow her around on her book tour.
Harris got Joe Biden to sign an order for her federal government security to continue through July this year, but Trump ended it in September. The state of California then stepped in and granted her protection.
Hilton told the Post if he wins the race for governor later this year it will again be taken from her, branding it a “corrupt freebie.”
He said: “The Kamala Harris book tour is obviously part of her presidential campaign. Her donors – if she has any – should be paying for her security, not Californians who already pay the highest taxes in the country for the worst results.
“This is yet another example of the Democrat political machine siphoning off taxpayer cash into their bottomless money pit of waste, fraud and abuse. We are sick of it. As governor I will immediately cancel this corrupt Kamala freebie.
“Our brave CHP officers have enough on their plate dealing with the Democrats’ crime wave without having to traipse around after a failed and rejected machine politician who can’t bear to be out of the limelight.”
Dozens of officers have been yanked off the streets since September to shadow the failed presidential candidate as she travels across the country and overseas to tout the memoir.
The union representing CHP officers told the Post it had been made aware of the protection but had no idea of the details surrounding it.
A spokesman said in a statement: “The California Association Highway Patrolmen is aware of the recent interest in former Vice President Kamala Harris and her California Highway Patrol protection detail, involving our union members.
“Because the CAHP is unaware of the exact amount of resources (numbers of union members working the protection), including the cost, we are not qualified to provide an opinion regarding staffing or budget stress (if at all) this has created.”
State officials haven’t disclosed the number of officers assigned to Harris or the total amount of taxpayer dollars spent on her security — but a retired CHP officer said it would be “significant.”
“All I know is it’s a lot, it is a significant amount of money,” Republican Assemblyman Tom Lackey, who spent 28 years as a member of the CHP, told KCRA.
“We’re living in an unstable environment right now, and it’s really hard to predict circumstances and people’s behavior, and so she deserves that kind of protection,” Lackey added.
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He said that as California’s former attorney general, Harris was entitled to protection by law enforcement officers if credible threats exist, as mandated by state law.
But a Secret Service threat intelligence assessment found no credible evidence of a threat to Harris. The former VP debuted her memoir, “107 Days,” with a 15-city tour that began in New York City on Sept. 24.
The book details her brief 2024 presidential campaign after President Biden withdrew from the race.
The tour hit major cities including Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Portland, Nashville and Miami, continuing on to Toronto and even London.
After selling out her 2025 tour dates, Harris added 18 more for 2026, starting in New Orleans on January 13 and concluding in Anaheim on April 10.
