diff --git a/src/backend/tcop/pquery.c b/src/backend/tcop/pquery.c
index d1593f38b35..2d998e87846 100644
--- a/src/backend/tcop/pquery.c
+++ b/src/backend/tcop/pquery.c
@@ -1365,8 +1365,8 @@ PortalRunMulti(Portal portal,
 	{
 		if (portal->qc.commandTag != CMDTAG_UNKNOWN)
 			CopyQueryCompletion(qc, &portal->qc);
-		/* If the caller supplied a qc, we should have set it by now. */
-		Assert(qc->commandTag != CMDTAG_UNKNOWN);
+		else
+			qc->commandTag = CMDTAG_EXECUTE;
 	}
 }