Secret Service scandal spreads to El Salvador

GlobalPost

There is more fallout today from the Secret Service scandal.

The agency told Congress on Thursday it has expanded its investigation to include a 2011 incident in El Salvador in which agents allegedly visited a local strip club and may have paid for sex with prostitutes, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The allegations come as the agency is reeling from a scandal involving agents who took prostitutes back to their hotel in Cartagena, Colombia ahead of President Obama's recent trip there.

CBS affiliate KIRO-TV spoke with an unnamed US government subcontractor who claimed members of Obama's Secret Service advance team in San Salvador received "sexual favors" at a local strip club and two of the agents took escorts back to their hotel.

More from GlobalPost: Obama says Secret Service scandal 'a little distracting'

According to Reuters, lawmakers in Washington said today they had been briefed on the new information.

Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said he had been briefed by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan who said he was reviewing the matter but had as yet found nothing "credible."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined to comment on the new allegation of misconduct, according to USA Today.

CNN said A US government official familiar with agency acknowledged "we have had employees that have engaged in misconduct... People make mistakes."

Of the 12 secret service officers implicated in the Colombia scandal, eight have been forced out, one stripped of his security clearance and three cleared of wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, CBS News reported that when asked what was the solution to the scandal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded: "Hire more females."

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.