Will Obama White House scandals ever end?
What many Americans thought was a scandal the Obama administration had distanced themselves from. Now it is rocketing back to the front page of every newspaper in the country. On Thursday, a former Secret Service agent accused the White House of a “protect the crown” attitude over the Colombia prostitution scandal back in 2012. It is obvious the agent’s anger extends right into an administration that “readily throws the people who would protect the president with their lives under the bus.”
Former Agent Speaks Out
The accusation was made by Don Bongino, now a Republican candidate for Congress in Maryland. Talking on Fox News Channel, he said the prostitute scandal that nearly ruined the Secret Service two years ago, he said, “Everybody on the ground knew there was a White House staff member involved.”
The Washington Post reported the chief investigator into the scandal had told Senate staff he had been approached to suppress evidence or stall the investigation because of potential embarrassing political reasons. David Nieland, the lead investigator for the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s office, told Senate staff that “We were directed at the time, to delay the report of the investigation until after the 2012 election.”
Those comments prompted Bongino to remind the Senate staffers of the proliferation of Secret Service scandals that have resulted in the resignation of Secret Service Director Julia Pierson. As with the IRS scandal, Benghazi, “Fast and Furious,” and a host of other Obama administration public breakdowns, they have denied any cover-up.
White House Counsel Absolved Staffer
The Post also reported former White House then-counsel Kathryn Ruemmler was twice provided critical information involving an actual member of the White House advance team in Colombia. Apparently this individual partied with a prostitute. She concluded more than once that the advance team member “had done nothing wrong.” The scandal resulted in dozens of Secret Service and military personnel assigned to protecting the president being disciplined, but not the White House aide.
According to Bongino, “The Secret Service agents, and you can argue about the punishment too harsh, too lenient, that’s fine. I had friends and family involved in this. It’s a sensitive topic for me. But these guys’ lives are over. It’s done. It’s finished. They were humiliated in public. Some of their wives have left them. They’ve lost their homes.”
White House Staffer Protected And Promoted
He continued, “Yet, the White House staffer in this gets promoted for, what, women’s studies or women’s issues while there’s supposedly a war on women. Here’s a question that the White House someone needs to ask. Was this White House aide polygraphed? Cause every Secret Service agent was. And if he wasn’t and you’re just taking his word for it, why wasn’t the same courtesy given to the agents? This is unbelievable.”
If the Obama administration was planning an “October surprise” to help Democrats in the November midterm elections, the Secret Service scandal along with the Ebola missteps and the ISIS crisis have all flushed that idea down the drain.
