Probably one of the biggest black eyes President Obama has had to face during his presidency is reaching its culmination, as three Secret Service agents have been forced out of the program while eight more remain on administrative leave.
STORY: Are They Kidding? Secret Service Prostitute Scandal Triggered By $50?
In a statement, the Secret Service said one supervisor was allowed to retire and another will be fired for cause. A third employee, who was not a supervisor, has resigned.
The agents were involved in a prostitution scandal in Colombia that also involved about 10 military service members and as many as 20 women. All the Secret Service employees who were involved had their security clearances revoked.
Last week, 11 Secret Service agents were sent home from Cartagena, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, after a night of partying that reportedly ended with at least some of them bringing prostitutes back to their hotel. The special agents and uniformed officers were in Colombia in advance of Obama’s arrival for the Summit of the Americas.
Now, one of the working girls from that night is speaking out about what happened.
In an interview with the New York Times, a 24-year-old high-end escort claims she was offered $30, a fraction of her $800 fee for a night with one of the men.
According to the NYT the escort said: “I tell him, ‘Baby, my cash money,’ she recalled recounting a heated exchange that has stained the agency’s reputation and an embarrassment for President Obama.
The 24-year-old single mother told The NYT that she met an agent the PleyClub in Cartagena after a night of drinking:
“They never told me they were with Obama,’ she said, calling the men ‘very discreet.”
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, said she and one of the agents agreed the agent would pay her $800 for sex at the hotel.
The next morning, when the hotel’s front desk called because the woman hadn’t left, the pair argued over the price.
She said the two argued after the agent initially offered to pay her about $30 and the situation escalated, eventually ending with Colombian law enforcement involved. She said she was eventually paid about $225.
Days later, she said a friend told her the argument had made the news, and to her shock, she discovered the man was a Secret Service agent:
“I’m scared,’ she said, adding that she did not want the man in question to be reprimanded, and fears retaliation, the Times reports.
‘This is something really big,’ she added. ‘This is the government of the United States. I have nervous attacks. I cry all the time.”
SOURCE: NYTimes
