Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who has been investigating the Secret Service as chairman of a House oversight subcommittee, said he had new questions for the White House in light of information he had received from Secret Service whistleblowers, as well as from a report in Thursday’s Washington Post.
At issue is President Barack Obama’s spring 2012 trip to Cartagena, Colombia, for the Summit of the Americas. The trip was overshadowed by news that some Secret Service agents and U.S. military personnel setting up security ahead of Obama’s arrival had hired local prostitutes and brought them back to their hotel rooms.
Around two dozen people were implicated, and more than a half-dozen Secret Service agents were subsequently fired. Others were disciplined.
Thursday, The Washington Post reported new details appearing to support allegations that a White House volunteer who was helping with the advance work on the trip, Jonathan Dach, had also hosted a prostitute in his hotel room.He was cleared in a White House investigation and went on to a job at the State Department, where he works as an adviser in its Office of Global Women’s Issues.
The investigation found “no corroborating evidence” of the allegation against Dach, White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters Thursday.
Schultz also rejected claims of a cover-up. He did not specifically say if the White House would share information with Congress but said, “We do comply with all legitimate oversight requests.”
Richard Sauber, a Washington lawyer representing Dach, said the allegations are not supported by records about Dach’s movements while in Cartagena.
Chaffetz noted that Dach’s father, Leslie Dach, is a major Democratic donor. Schultz said that had no influenceon the investigation.
In 2012, the White House denied any involvement in the Cartagena incident by White House staff. And when a Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigation some months later turned up a hotel record indicating a White House advance team volunteer on the trip had hosted a prostitute in his hotel room, the White House said the hotel log was wrong.
Chaffetz said Thursday that new details he has received from Secret Service whistleblowers, and information reported Thursday in the Post, seemed to provide additional evidence. That included corporate records from Dach’s Cartagena hotel suggesting he had an overnight guest.
Chaffetz also said officials in the inspector general’s office claim they were discouraged from pursuing questions related to White House involvement and in some cases were put on leave when they did.
The White House dismissed the allegations as thoroughly investigated old news.
“As was reported more than two years ago, the White House conducted an internal review that did not identify any inappropriate behavior on the part of the White House advance team,” Schultz said. “And of course there was no White House interference with an (inspector general) investigation.”
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