Two key Republican lawmakers predicted Sunday that more Secret Service employees will lose their jobs as a result of the prostitution scandal that has embroiled the federal agency in recent days.
“You can’t allow 11 men to tarnish the great reputation that this agency had,” said Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican, who is chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “In the next day or so, I think we’re going to see more Secret Service agents leaving.”
Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, appearing on the same program, said he has confidence that Secret Serivce Director Mark Sullivan is taking steps to address the scandal.
“The most important thing is that this never happens again,” Mr. Issa said.
Six of the 12 agents involved in the scandal, which happened before President Obama’s trip to Colombia last weekend, have left the agency.
Another 11 military service personnel also were implicated.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee said his panel now is investigating the incident and will hold at least one hearing. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut independent, called on the White House on Sunday to conduct an internal probe into whether any of its staffers were involved in the scandal.
“There’s no evidence (of White House involvement), but I don’t know that the Secret Service is actually investigating that question,” Mr. Lieberman said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I’d say it’s a reasonable question and that the White House ought to be conducting its own internal investigation of White House personnel who were in Cartagena, just to make sure that none of them were involved in this kind of inappropriate behavior.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney has said the administration has no reason to believe that staffers were involved. But Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, also has questioned whether any White House personnel could be connected to the episode.
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