Skip to content

Senators Grill Secret Service Director

In his first Congressional testimony about the Secret Service prostitution scandal, the agency’s director faced a grilling from skeptical Senators who raised concerns that the conduct seemed prevalent and accepted among agents and their supervisors.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine) both asked Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan whether higher-ups condoned agents’ sexual encounters while on assignment.

Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) raised similar concerns, saying it seems unbelievable that the incident in which 12 agents, including two supervisors, brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms in Colombia was the first of its kind.

Sullivan denied, however, that such conduct was normal or condoned.

“I’ve been part of this organization for 29 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” he said. “The notion that this type of behavior is condoned or authorized is just absurd.”

Collins dug in on the fact that the agents who brought prostitutes to their hotel and registered them as guests did so under their real names.

“It suggests to me that the agents were so unconcerned about being caught or about the impropriety of their actions that they didn’t even seek to conceal it,” she said.

Sullivan responded that he was dumbfounded by the agents’ actions.

“I just think between the alcohol and, I don’t know, the environment, that these people did some really dumb things,” he said. “I have no excuse for those actions. All I can tell you is we acted quickly and brought them back here and initiated the investigation.”

Sullivan said the agency is investigating the incidents but is not yet ready to release any of the findings. Still, he said he believes the agents were outliers and that the vast majority of the roughly 7,000 Secret Service agents are professional and trustworthy.

Recent Stories

Capitol Ink | Victory parade

Trump surge in blue states added to Dem House headwinds

‘He betrayed us’: Officers who protected the Capitol grapple with Trump’s return

Trump win could prompt US government switch in legal fights

How key results could influence health policy

Trump win opens door to major shift in US immigration policies