(Image source: Wikimedia Commons )

 

BY SCOTT MACDONALD

 

While discussing the scandal involving Secret Service agents and Columbian prostitutes on a Radio Iowa talk show Tuesday, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley made this comment:

 

“Because we’re looking at something very, very serious, when national security might not be protected properly. And who knows who might be using prostitutes — the Russians are famous for that, to get information out of us.”

 

Grassley’s staff insists that the Iowa senator is not worried that the scandal actually involves Russian espionage.  Staffers told The Hill he really just wants to know why such a breach of conduct and security occurred. 

 

Grassley has been pressuring the Obama administration about the internal review of the White House advance staff.  He  sent a letter to White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler asking for more details about the investigation, according to Fox News.

 

“He poses fourteen questions to her. Among them: ‘Were civilian employees of the White House Communications Agency also examined?’ ‘How many White House advance staff had overnight guests?’”

 

But the administration says there’s no cover up.  White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday the review was only a precaution and was not based on any credible evidence or allegation that members of the administration were involved.  CNN reports Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont agreed with Carney on Tuesday.

 

"Based on what he has been told in private briefings, Leahy said, he saw no evidence that Obama staffers who traveled to Colombia ahead of the president's arrival behaved inappropriately.  'There are probably some who are disappointed that the White House is not involved,' Leahy said. 'Let's get this out of politics.'"