White House knew of prostitution-scandal link

The White House and North Lawn are seen behind a security fence on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington on Monday, Sept. 22, 2014. Government documents and interviews show that White House aides were given information suggesting a presidential advance team member hosted a prostitute in a South America hotel room in 2012, The Washington Post reported. The news organization also reported that there was no follow-up investigation on the information. At the time details became public regarding the allegations, the White House denied anyone from the administration was involved. Almost two dozen members of the military and Secret Service were let go or punished in the scandal involving a trip to Cartagena, Colombia. The Secret Service shared first-hand accounts and hotel documents offering details on at least two occasions with administration officials, including former White House Council Kathryn Ruemmler, the Post reported. Each time, Ruemmler and her team interviewed the presidential advance team member and concluded there was no wrongdoing, according to the Post. SECRET SERVICE CULTURE: Questions raised The presidential advance team scopes out locations before a presidential trip, making sure they are secure and ironing out logistical details. In addition, the lead investigator with the inspector general's office in the Department of Homeland Security reported to U.S. Senate staff members that he felt pressure from his superiors to withhold evidence, seeing as it was an election year, the Post reported. "We were directed at the time ... to delay the report of the investigation until after the 2012 election," the Post reported that David Nieland, lead investigator, told Senate staffers. Nieland also said his superiors told him to alter or withhold some information because it was "potentially embarrassing to the administration,' the Post reported. Charles Edwards, then-acting inspector general, told Senate staffers that any changes to information in a report on the allegations was part of the "normal editing process," according to the Post. White House spokesman Eric Schultz told the Post that the administration did not interfere with the investigation. "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," the Post quoted Schultz as saying. The presidential advance team member, White House volunteer Jonathan Dach, then a 25-year- old Yale University law student, through his lawyer denied hiring a prostitute or bringing anyone to his hotel room, according to the Post. Dach is a policy adviser with the State Department.