As if the Obama administration were not up to its eyeballs in scandals, Fox News reports that an internal memo from the State Department’s inspector general reveals that the agency tried to cover up several crimes. The memo calls into question the Department’s ability to investigate wrongdoing by its staff.
From the article, written in part by James Rosen:
Some of the allegations are against then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security detail who allegedly hired prostitutes, a U.S. ambassador accused of trolling public parks for paid sex and a security official in Beirut committing sexual assaults on foreign nationals….
The memo also seems to indicate that the government agency tried to use its authority to stop the investigation and instead, opting to have the official, whose name has not been released, meet with Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy in Washington. The official was then allowed to return to his job overseas.
Fox notes that Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the allegations of misconduct appalling and said he would ask congressional staff members to start an investigation. But when asked about the alleged misconduct and possible cover-up, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stonewalled, telling reporters, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The memo, first obtained by CBS News, indicates that four members of Clinton’s security detail received one-day suspensions.
None of this, of course, is new to the Obama administration, which has been plagued of late with one allegation of misconduct after another. In April 2012, for example, members of the president’s Secret Service detail were caught in a prostitution ring involving 12 women they picked up during an official trip to Colombia. Agents were slow to disclose any information and issued only limited public statements in the weeks following.
