Report: Four Secret Service agents contesting dismissals
Agents say they did not break any rules on the Colombia trip.
Four Secret Service agents implicated in the agency's scandal in Colombia last month and subsequently dismissed from their positions are now fighting their dismissals, insisting they broke no rules, The Washington Post reports.
Twelve agents were implicated in reports of misconduct during their advance work for President Obama's visit to Cartagena with women who were confirmed, in some cases, as prostitutes. Three of those agents have since been cleared of serious charges, and four are now fighting their dismissals, according to the Post.
Citing three officials briefed on the investigation into the agents' misconduct, the paper reports that one of the agents, a 29-year-old single man who worked in the Washington field office, said during a polygraph exam that he did not know he had taken prostitutes back to his room and asked the two women to leave when they asked to be paid. He resigned under pressure from the agency, but has since withdrawn his resignation. Another two unnamed agents are challenging their dismissals, as well as a fourth, agency supervisor Greg Stokes.
The Post report is likely to come up during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday, at which Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan will testify on "restoring trust and confidence" in the agency.
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