Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Thursday that the latest revelations about the 2012 Secret Service prostitution scandal shows the Obama administration appears to have different standards of conduct for White House staff compared to other federal agencies.
Chaffetz was reacting to news that the White House knew earlier than it initially said that a member of President Barack Obama’s advance team, Jonathan Dach, hired a prostitute while in Colombia, and ultimately decided he did nothing wrong. A story in the Washington Post also indicated that the White House may have pressured investigators to delay a final report on the investigation until after the 2012 election.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Thursday that the White House appears to be protecting its own people from punishment in the 2012 Secret Service prostitution scandal. (AP Photo/Deseret News, Tom Smart, Pool)
“Remember, there were nearly two dozen Secret Service military personnel who were either fired or reprimanded,” Chaffetz said on Fox News Thursday. “But the concern is that when it came to the White House, and the White House taking care of its own personnel, a totally different standard, and perhaps some misdirection and some coverup to make sure that that story never saw the light of day before the 2012 election.”
Late last week, Chaffetz wrote a letter to White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough saying that he has information a White House staff person checked in a prostitute while in Colombia, and that “steps were taken by the administration to cover-up or deflect their involvement in the initial incident.”
Chaffetz noted that in April 2012, Carney dismissed the idea that the White House had any knowledge of the incident.
Late Wednesday night, White House Spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed the Post story in a tweet by noting that many of the details came out two years ago. Earnest noted an AP story from September 2012, which said the White House had become aware of the White House staffer’s involvement in the prostitution scandal.
That story, however, noted that the White House decided no wrongdoing had occurred, and that it stemmed from a false record that a White House staffer had stayed at the hotel in Colombia.
But that prompted Chaffetz to tweet back to Earnest, “Then you should have no problem providing all the information you have to our committee. Will you do that?”
The Post story said Dach’s lawyer rejected the idea that he brought a prostitute back to his hotel room. Dach was a volunteer at the time, but now works at the Office on Global Women’s Issues at the State Department.
Read Chaffetz’s letter here: