“A COUPLE OF knuckleheads shouldn’t detract from what [the Secret Service] do.”
That is President Barack Obama’s take on the sex scandal that has embarrassed his security agency in the US in the past week.
“What these guys were thinking, I don’t know,” he said when asked about the 12 agents alleged involvement with Colombian prostitutes. “That’s why they’re not there anymore.”
His comments were made during a taping of NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as he tried to take attention away from the matter.
“These guys are incredible,” he said of the service as a whole. “They protect me. They protect Michelle. They protect the girls. They protect our officials all around the world.”
At least 12 agents have been embroiled in the scandal, with nine already forced to resign. Another has been stripped of his security clearance but two members have been cleared of any wrongdoing. Twelve military personnel have also been implicated and had their security clearances suspended.
The fact that at least one prostitute stayed overnight in one of the Cartagena hotel rooms in which the agents were staying ahead of Obama’s trip to Columbia earlier this month came to light after a fight over payment spilled out into the hallway.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will appear before a Senate panel today to answer questions about the incident.
-Additional reporting by AP
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