When the 2012 Colombian prostitution scandal turned the Secret Service into a punch line for the first time, the White House denied any involvement by its personnel.
The Washington Post reported last night, however, that White House officials knew and actively covered up the role of Jonathan Dach, a member of the White House advance team and the son of a big President Obama donor who has since been appointed to help Obamacare’s second roll-out.
The White House denied any wrongdoing by a member of the Obama administration, but the Post reports that the administration pressured an inspector general to delay his report on the matter until after the 2012 election and to leave out Dach’s alleged involvement. Dach was later promoted to a position in the State Department’s Office on Global Women’s Issues. (Yes, really.)
On April 23, 2012, then-White House Press Secretary Jay Carney stated in no uncertain terms that no member of the Obama administration was involved in the Secret Service hooker scandal.
“There have been no specific, credible allegations of misconduct by anyone on the White House advance team or the White House staff,” Carney told reporters at a White House press briefing. (Video courtesy of The Federalist.)
“Nevertheless, out of due diligence, the White House Counsel’s office has conducted a review of the White House advance team, and in concluding that review, came to the conclusion that there’s no indication that any member of the White House advance team engaged in any improper conduct or behavior,” he added.
Carney’s account was quite different from the Washington Post’s new and updated version of events:
And then there’s the supposed reason for why the White House didn’t bother to check out the Dach reports: “Administration officials interviewed by The Post earlier this year said there was no reason to investigate Dach beyond interviews with him and his fellow White House team members and a review of their expense accounts, because he was not a government employee and because prostitution is legal in parts of Colombia, including Cartagena.”
