I was traveling with Kamala Harris as the Iran-Israel news broke. This is what happened next

It seems whenever I sign up for pool duty with Vice President Kamala Harris, chaos reigns in the Middle East — and today was no different.

Back in May, I traveled aboard Air Force Two with the vice president to Detroit when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to invade Rafah. That same day, Hamas said it would agree to a ceasefire with Israel, but that quickly got binned. After waiting for ages in a van outside The Wright Museum in Detroit, Harris finally gave us a brief statement.

For those not in the White House Press Corps, pool reporters are the designated journalists who agree to take a day off from their regular duties to follow around either the president, vice president or their spouses and send reports to the press corp, since we cannot all be around the principal constantly.

It’s simultaneously dull work, comprising mostly sitting and waiting for the person you are following, and then transcribing whatever they say and emailing it to everyone — and occasionally exhilarating. Most importantly, it’s a way to be a good neighbor to our fellow reporters.

I already knew Tuesday was going to be busy. It’s election season — the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz would be on Tuesday evening and I would be going over to Virginia to cover a debate watch party. Last night, I covered Montana’s Senate debate.

Nonetheless, when I received a notification request to cover the vice president on Monday evening, I signed up, figuring it might be fun.

Almost immediately, I regretted my decision. As I arrived at the White House gates, my credential didn’t work — because, as I learned, it had just expired — which meant I had to get a provisional pass and then scurry in the pouring rain to get into