White House aide linked to Secret Service prostitution scandal

(Image credit: Screenshot/Washington Post)

last updated 8 January 2015

A White House staffer had an overnight liaison scheduled with a prostitute in Colombia in 2012, according to The Washington Post.

That finding, based on newly obtained documents and interviews, undercuts the administration's insistence that only Secret Service members were involved in the embarrassing prostitution scandal, which took place during a presidential visit to South America. And further evidence suggests the administration tried to downplay the incident and delay a report on it until after the 2012 elections.

The Secret Service shared its findings twice in the weeks after the scandal with top White House officials, including then-White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler. Each time, she and other presidential aides conducted an interview with the advance-team member and concluded that he had done nothing wrong. […] The lead investigator later told Senate staffers that he felt pressure from his superiors in the office of Charles K. Edwards, who was then the acting inspector general, to withhold evidence — and that, in the heat of an election year, decisions were being made with political considerations in mind. [The Washington Post]

In a statement, the White House reiterated that it found no evidence of wrongdoing.

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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.