Gary Cameron/Reuters
New details from government documents and interviews show that senior White House aides were given information at the time of the 2012 Secret Service prostitution scandal in Colombia suggesting that a prostitute was an overnight guest in the hotel room of a presidential advance-team member, but that the information was never thoroughly investigated or publicly acknowledged. The Washington Post reports that the information the Secret Service shared with the White House included hotel records and firsthand accounts—the same type of evidence the agency and military relied on to determine who in their ranks was involved. The Secret Service shared its findings twice in the weeks after the scandal with top White House officials, including Kathryn Ruemmler, then White House counsel. Each time, she and other presidential aides interviewed the advance-team member, identified as volunteer Jonathan Dach, and concluded he had done nothing wrong. Through his attorney, Dach denied hiring a prostitute or bringing anyone to his hotel room. Nearly two dozen Secret Service agents and members of the military were punished or fired following the Cartagena scandal. In response, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest tweeted, “Supposed WaPo ‘exclusive‘ was previously reported by AP, CBS, ABC, Politico, The Hill & others—2 years ago.” However, that AP report only said the aide “might have been involved.”