Chuck Grassley Secret Service Letter: White House Staff Focus Of Senator's Inquiry (DOCUMENT)

Senator Chuck Grassley, R-IA on May 11, 2011 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

As the Secret Service prostitution scandal deepens, a top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee has engineered an inquiry into whether more individuals were involved.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Secret Service Director Mark J. Sullivan and Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards Friday evening questioning whether White House Staff members were part of the prostitution scandal. The groups in Grassley's query were the White House Communications Agency and White House Office of Advance, "given the close working relationship among members of advance teams," a press release said.

"More work remains to investigate and uncover what occurred, hold those responsible accountable, and to put in place new policies and procedures to prevent future misconduct," Grassley wrote.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Friday that he was unaware of any White House staff being involved in the incident.

"I do not know otherwise that this did not involve anything but the agents and the military personnel," Carney told reporters.

Six Secret Service employees have lost their jobs in the wake of allegations that agents had prostitutes in their hotel rooms during an April summit in Colombia. Reuters reported on Saturday that a 12th employee connected to the case lost his or her security clearance and was sent on leave.

Read Grassley's full letter below (via the senator's website):

Chuck Grassley Secret Service Letter

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[tmispy]

06:28 PM on 04/25/2012

Blow hard. As usual all bark no bite

[PEM1019]

08:48 PM on 04/22/2012

Calling ALL OF CHUCKS constituents in IOWA ! Calling ALL OF CHUCKS constituents in IOWA!

Will you please tell the rest of us what Chuck has done for YOU lately? How about some really good, STATESMAN like legislation? Can you tell us why you will vote for him again?

[sgraham59]

06:50 PM on 04/22/2012

Another Repubblican pol that plays with his poop

[Gaylord P Farqua]

01:29 PM on 04/22/2012

Helping American get off the unemployment rolls, investigating the practices by major banks which make a mockery of the bull***t "loan modification program" , getting our troops out of the Middle East and stop these massive payments to Karzai and the Pakistani/Taliban government, and maybe doing some other stuff to help struggling Americans through the mess his Party created, will just have to wait. There are a few dumb s**ts in the Secret Service who  probably got drunk and did something very stupid that takes precedent. It may even require a visit to the very brothels in Columbia where these young, sexy, and willing prostitutes hang to get the bottom of something. Grassley needs to do an in depth investigation. America can wait.

[VietVet67]

01:16 PM on 04/22/2012

Good luck with this Grassley:

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/04/21/468888/senator-chuck-grassley-advocates-boycott-of-coca-cola-to-punish-company-for-leaving-alec/#comment_link

[Blackwing]

12:22 PM on 04/22/2012

I thought Grassley had been entombed in a glass viewing vault and was on display in a shopping mall in Des Moines.

[PEM1019]

08:42 PM on 04/22/2012

LOL! wishful thinking Blackwing! Fanned!

[hifie]

11:59 AM on 04/22/2012

Grassley creates political circus when ever possible. I can say that the left does the same thing on issues of the day but O'll Chuck as he is know in Iowa, is in charge of the side show. The current Secret Service investigation into the behaviors of agents has no political leanings or should ever have a political leaning. The job is protecting the President, All Presidents without a bias of any kind. Those who would politicize this shameful event, left or right should garner no respect from anyone. No matter how O'll Chuck wants to dress this up to score points, it is one issue that should have no politics nor and leanings. It is Not political side show material. It is the lives of every President no more no less and should not be political fodder.

[jdryv]

11:19 AM on 04/22/2012

it isn't even an election year for chuck. someone must have awakened him from his nap in error. go back to sleep chuck. you are not scheduled to be up again until 2016.

[Col Hogan]

11:17 AM on 04/22/2012

Grassley isn't as good at oversight as he is at overlooking.

[poiuytre]

11:10 AM on 04/22/2012

How many tax payer dollars will be wasted on this nonsense, while the real issues people care about are ignored? How about getting some new blood in Congress? Enough with the cranky old white man's club.

[kevymac]

12:57 PM on 04/22/2012

Racist

[poiuytre]

01:32 PM on 04/22/2012

It's racist to point out that most of Congress is cranky old white men? Have you seen Congress lately?

[Dots]

11:08 AM on 04/22/2012

In addition to the obvious, here are things that keep erupting in my mind about this incident that aren't being addressed.
Do members of the Secret Service have to take some kind of oath?
How much money does it take to train one member of the Service?
It would follow that if found guilty, they should be required to repay the taxpayers for training them, or face jail [or some other restitution]. Certainly no pension if forthcoming.

[PEM1019]

08:45 PM on 04/22/2012

#1 Yes
#2 A whole hell of alot of money!
#3 I agree

[saortolani]

10:13 AM on 04/22/2012

If guys like Grassley pursued their jobs with the same enthusiasm as they pursue this kind of nonsense we would all be living in paradise.

[Seabee 1]

11:12 AM on 04/22/2012

They thrive on nonsense, gives them an excuse to distract attention away from the important things they should be taking care of.

[JacksonHts]

10:10 AM on 04/22/2012

Grassley should expand the inquiry to include his GOP Senate colleague, David Vitter

[Leonid]

10:06 AM on 04/22/2012

Hey Grassley, where are the JOBS??

[kevymac]

12:58 PM on 04/22/2012

Obama has sent them all overseas

[danusgram]

10:03 AM on 04/22/2012

This is a ridiculous witch hunt by Grassley he shows his racism so well ..he needs to resign it has nothing to do with the white house and no advance team ...