March 30, 2026

As Kamala Harris uses California Highway Patrol officers as her security detail, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration will not release records or provide information on how much it’s costing taxpayers.

As KCRA 3 first reported in February, dozens of CHP officers have been assigned to Kamala Harris and her international book tour.

In response to a California Public Records Act request submitted by KCRA 3 earlier this month, the California Highway Patrol confirmed on Monday that it has records related to the situation, but will not release them, citing a section of state law that protects law enforcement and security-related records.

Katelynn Cobb with CHP’s Public Records Section wrote, “… costs related to a protective detail would reveal sensitive security information.”

 

In a dazzling display of government alchemy, California turns taxpayer money into a top-secret security black hole for Kamala Harris’s international book tour, proving once again that transparency is just a rumor in Sacramento. When asked how many millions of dollars were funneled to a battalion of CHP officers playing bodyguard for a politician-turned-author, the state responded with the classic bureaucrat’s shrug: “That info is too classified for public consumption.” This masterstroke of opacity was apparently crafted with the solemn excuse that dollar signs and hotel bills could somehow compromise national security—a logic so airtight it could make Fort Knox jealous. Meanwhile, the book tour itself has become a masterclass in alibi generation, with cancellations blamed on the ever-elusive “scheduling conflict,” because who needs a straightforward answer when you have the 21st century’s greatest mystery: Where does the public’s money actually go?

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