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Subscribe to RSSAccording to a report from a television station in Seattle, U.S. military specialists hired prostitutes in El Salvador in 2011 prior to President Barack Obama's trip there. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.
The Secret Service says it’s looking into a new report that a group of its agents and U.S. military specialists partied hard at a strip club in El Salvador, with some hiring prostitutes, prior to a visit by President Barack Obama last year.
The report Thursday by Seattle’s KIRO-TV comes on the heels of an agency scandal involving allegations that Secret Service employees hired prostitutes and took them back to their hotel rooms earlier this month in Cartagena, Colombia. Twelve agency personnel who were investigated in that incident have been dealt with: eight were forced out, the agency is trying to permanently revoke the security clearance of one, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing but will face administrative discipline, according to The Associated Press.
In the KIRO-TV report, investigative reporter Chris Halsne said he interviewed a government subcontractor who worked with a Secret Service advance team in the El Salvadoran capital, San Salvador, prior to a March 2011 visit by Obama to meet with the new president of the Central American country.
The subcontractor, who was not named, said he joined about a dozen Secret Service employees and a few U.S. military specialists in a visit to a strip club a few days before Obama’s arrival.
According to the KIRO report:
This source witnessed the majority of the men drink heavily ("wasted," "heavily intoxicated") at the strip club. He says most of the Secret Service "advance-team" members also paid extra for access to the VIP section of the club where they were provided a number of sexual favors in return for their cash. Although our source says he told the agents it was a "really bad idea" to take the strippers back to their hotel rooms, several agents bragged that they "did this all the time" and "not to worry about it." Our source says at least two agents had escorts check into their rooms. It is unclear whether the escorts who returned to the hotels were some of the strippers from the same club.
The strip club’s owner confirmed that Secret Service agents and some military members visited the establishment the week prior to Obama’s visit, KIRO reported. The owner reportedly also told Halsne that FBI and DEA agents and U.S. Embassy employees in San Salvador also frequented the club.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano vowed to get to the bottom of the prostitution scandal that cost several members of the Secret Service their jobs. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.
The Secret Service said Thursday it is looking into the report.
“The recent investigation in Cartagena has generated several news stories that contain allegations by mostly unnamed sources. Any information that is brought to our attention that can be assessed as credible will be followed up on in an appropriate manner,” the agency said in a statement.
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said in a statement: "We always take any allegation of employee misconduct seriously and, if proven to have merit, we will take swift and appropriate action." A spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it had no comment.
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The buck stops with BUCK; the root of the matter is in the hand of the POTUS.
Another troll in the newsvine, what a shock!
I would love to see the expense reports for these trips!
"Gun cleaning, $60".
hors d'oeuvres - $50
food and beverages - $30
One agent speaking to his friend that just got assigned to Columbia. "you'll be on down there where the hors is!!!!"
Here is another point of view:
Men without sexual urges don't exist. We are not going to find anyone that can live on the fly, following the president around and ask them to be celibate for years on end.
That being said is regrettable that the poor SS and military men are in this situation... perhaps if the American public wasn't composed of a bunch of prudes they would not be so shocked that some poor men that have no life but their work had to pay for some prostitutes. I think this is no one's business but these men and their families.
Exactly!! How many of you truly care that they did this? I'm sure some of you GOP trolls will be spreading the rumor that Obama handed out the condoms but it's like someone else commented here. They're not Catholic Priests! If they were then this would involve little boys.
It's only news because they want it to be during an election year so they can blame it on someone. Leave it alone. You've now ruined these mens jobs and lives. As far as I'm concerned if they legalized prostitution in this country things would get a lot better because there'd be less stress.
Amen! This probably wouldn't have happened either on the scale that it did. We have gotten rid of all of our failed prohibitions except sex and drugs. They are next. Kind of looks like cannabis many be the next one across the threshold in our society. I certainly hope so. I am getting tired of children being killed because of its violence caused by the turf struggles for sales territory. Sell it at 7/11 to those over 21 just like beer and wine. Tax it and control it. Then get around to the prostitution issue so that we can stop the illegal kidnapping and trafficking in human beings. We are really a stupid lot. LOL
No sympathy. It's the screwing you get for the screwing you got.
Oh please!!! This has been going on for years and years. In fact, my husband is a Principal and one of his teachers husbands is with the Secret Service. She knows for a fact that it has been going on. This is just the first time it was reported. These men are away from home for sometimes long stretches of time. They also have very big ego's.
The partying and vacationing on the tax payers dime for years and years as well. it is the Obama administration who is putting an end to it.
Everyone seems to have forgotten who put is in this debt 10 trillion, plus the 1 trillion surplus that Clinton left. t All for Bush and his buddy's to makes lots and lots of money, then crashing the market so we all lost the equity in our homes, the value of our retirement funds, etc. and now they expect the middle class to py for the debts they lfet behind.
I can't believe the amount of brainwashing the right has been able to accomplish since President Obama won the election. You have no idea what is in store for this country if the GOP win the Presidency. They seem to like the way things work in China. That is why they want to cut money from education.
In China only the best and the brightest go to school. Thye rest work in factories for nothing. This is why the GOP wanted to bust the unions. This way they would only have to pay factory workers $7.00-$10.00 an hour when they bring manufacturing back from China. No more middle class. maybe one of these days the supporters of the GOP will see the writing on the wall. If not then the Republican mantra will hold true. There mantra was "The masses are asses" They know their supporters will believ anything they tell them. Its really very sad.
You need a good history lesson and you aren't going to get it from msnbc.
I fully agree with this comment. This goes on all the time and always has. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when these guys went home early and had to explain that to their wives!
It's also why wages are lower now then they were 30 years ago. I was making $12 per hour 32 years ago, today my sons can't find a job making $10. Reason is they've been driving down wages for decades, hell you can't even get the GOP to raise minimum wage!! How is anyone supposed to live off of $7.50 per hour when a gallon of gas is costing you $4 just to get to work?
The only place that has kept up with the cost of living is the government and the GOP has now set their sights on gov employess making to much money. And their sheep, whom are laid off and making nothing, are backing them because they're all pissed off. They use anyone and anything to distract you from their true purpose, and this is just one of the distractions. We'd all work for free if it were up to them.
Time for some SS heads to roll...
These guys are a national embarrassment.
I just hope Obama is above this one, I don't support everything he does but he is the President and he has a family.
He is not above anything.
Barney Frank and his GF, I mean BF know all about hoarding and partying with prostitutes, could they have given them the idea. That was ok though, bc Barney was not protecting the president, well not totally true either, bc he was protecting him all through that healthcare scam and others that took place. Wonder if this is bringing shame to him and making him want to get out, nahhhhh, he knows he was a democratic politician and it is the norm. I believe I saw a photo of Hillary partying it up too, so should we see who she may have passed important information too while drinking. Let's take this investigation to the top. I am really more worried about what goes on inside the White House and what information some of the guest may have left with bc I missed all the transparency the president posted about who visited him since 2008. There was Jeremiah Wright that was a different one than the anti-American pastor, (never proved though), and a few other guest in question, but not the ones we know by name. The real questions we need answered haven't really been shoved under the rug by all though...they are out there, just ignored, like who manages OWS and who's friends are they. They are not just some shallow group with concerns for our country like the Tea Party, but well organized groups from and for the chief organizer himself. Wake up America, our country is going down unless we get answers and piece it back together in 2012. Don't expect the MSM to be telling you that.
Only Secret Service Agents indulge is this sort of behavior. Not: teachers, cops, mayors, plumbers, CEO's, soldiers, mail carriers, husbands, dads, etc.
I don't see what all the excitement is about. All I care about is whether they were soliciting prostitutes during hours they were on duty and whether any sensitive information was leaked. Barring that I don't give a rats tuckus about strip clubs and whores. You work hard you play hard. Demanding jobs require release. As I see it this is nothing more than runaway ideals. Sure it would be nice to if these men were perfect and didn't drink to excess and have sexual wants and all but they're people and they do. It sickens me to see people sneaking their morals into an issue under the guise of "professionalism". What do you expect the Secret Service to do? confine all personnel to their rooms when not on duty? If they leave their hotel rooms on their own time isn't any foreigner they meet a potential for security breach? What if they go to a restaurant and flirt with a server? should they be disciplined for that? That could be construed as "unprofessional" behavior? There comes a point where the bar is set so high that it becomes unrealistic for any reasonable person to maintain that level. I think the main reason this issue is so big at this point is because of prostitution. I wonder if it were legal in this country and regulated if this would be front page news?
When you get right down to it I'm tired of having other people's morality foisted onto me. If you don't like strippers and strip clubs and prostitutes that's fine but that doesn't mean I have to feel that way and it certainly doesn't make me a "bad" person for not thinking that way.
so to re-iterate my position: I have no problem with Secret Service, military, or any other gov't employee drinking to excess, soliciting prostitution, or anything else so long as they are not "on the clock/on duty", divulge sensitive info, or cause violence.
Sunshine is said to be the best disinfectant.
I'm a 62 year old attorney who has been observing client behavior for many years. My conclusion based on those observations is that there are only two types of married men - those who screw around and those who don't. As to the ones that do, it doesn't just happen one time, it's almost a life long activity. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that there are Secret Service agents who fall into that category or that the Columbian incident was not an isolated incident. Guys with that penchant will behave in that fashion no matter where they are and whatever their occupation may be. To think otherwise is hopelessly naive.
This should not have even come up. The current issue and scandal are pretty much settled, new rules and oversights are in place to monitor it from now on, the people serving are on notice it will no longer be tolerated, it is time to move on. The media is just trying to ignite another fire over past and irrelevant events. Nothing new! If you want a soap oprea turn on the TV!
Drinking and carrying on seems to be a common thing for the SS. One SS agent got busted for a DUI in Decorah, Iowa on Obama's last trip there last year as well. Seems to be a culture of drinking and carrying on.
So a bunch of guys went overseas and sampled the local party scene. {smh at hypocrits}
GET a freakin' LIFE already! This is as old as the hills!
As long as they weren't drinking when it was time to do their JOB, so what? How do these slugs who never served our country get to do as they please, yet people who put their lives on the line for you can't bliow off some steam?
Some people are just TOO much!
Sheesh!
Thanks Michael
CSGM USA Ret.
Bob, you and Michael are living in the past. I too am a vet and currently serve overseas as a civil servant. We all have "Human Trafficking Training" that tells us such behavior is not legal (regardless of local laws) and also have to comply with personal conduct guidelines. Gone are the "juicy bars" outside the gates with bar girls (hookers) GW did away with that.
More to the point is the fact that this behavior puts their mission in jeopardy and you very well know that if indeed you truly are CSGM USA Ret.
Show me the law that says their actions were illegal.
WAIT a freakin' minute! How did them visiting a strip club suddenly become human trafficking?
I am surprised at the several posters (probably men) who think that its okay for the Secret Service to party with prostitutes as long "as it is on their own time" because I would think that when you are in a corrupt, violent country like Colombia (didn't drug cartels gun down their Supreme Court once?) one day ahead of the President arriving that you are not really on your "own time". Let's ask the President that question: Mr. President, your Secret Service guys are in Colombia to look out for you, but they only work 9-to-5, right, so you don't mind if they party after 5:00 pm with every hooker on the drug cartel's payroll, do you? They say they worked hard today and need to relax. Come on Mr. President, can't you loosen up a little? -- No, I don't think the President, or any President, would feel safe in that situation, especially in Colombia or El Salvador!!
The were just working under cover ........ of the bedding. Who is leaking all there secrets?
The SS is just following the lead of their boss. Obama is screwing this country and the SS is screwing rest of the world. Do you know who your daddy is?
It is okay for a President to get a blow job in the Oval office and Secret Service can't have a little fun ion their time. Go figure
it is not ok to have an intern that works for you have sex in your private working office - that is not ok - not a big deal - but not ok - it is ok for these guys to party on their off time - and the includes whatever they want to do ....
Bill never had sex a day in his life-ask Hillary she will back him up on that.
Clinton screwed a staffer. Bush screwed the whole country to make Exxon and Haliburton richer. But hey he did an awful lot to further the technology in prosthetics.
What a relief. I thought they were all gay. Whoever said this was embarrassing is nuts. If anything is embarrassing, it's Obama.
so wtf - who cares - really. why are we so concerned about what anyone does on their spare time. these guys were not working. so wtf if they hire strippers, have drinks and get sex - really - people need to get a life. I personally do not give a rats ass what someone does on their own time. the only people who should give a damn are if any of these guys are cheating on their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends or others - than that is between them and that person/people. let it go and quit trying to legislate or penalize moral behaviour. just like the stupid war on drugs. let it go. we lost that war the moment we wrote the frist check. and so what if these guys pay for sex overseas....
even the presidents do this, it's been happening for centuries now, its funny how everyone's so surprised
I doubt there is a job on earth that does not have a policy for its employees, and that policy is expected to be followed. Not doing so usually results in reprimand, demotion or firing. The Secret Service people know when they signed on for and were selected for these positions of national security that they had perhaps more rigorous and stringent rules to follow. They broke them and they should be dealt with accordingly, just like anyone else.
This gives new meaning to "SECRET SERVICE"
The SS is just following the lead of their boss. Obama is screwing this country and the SS is screwing rest of the world.