According to a report by Seattle-based investigative reporter Chris Halsne with CBS affiliate KIRO-TV, Cartagena, Colombia, may not have been the only place that Obama's Secret Service advance team patronized prostitutes.
After returning from El Salvador, he claims to have spoken with a U.S. government subcontractor who worked with the elite force's advance team there in March 2011, preparing for President Barack Obama's trip to San Salvador, and who claims that paying for sex is a very frequent occurrence among men serving on the Secret Service's "advance team."
He says that he accompanied the agents to a strip club in the Salvadoran capital, where they proceeded to get very drunk. "Most of the Secret Service 'advance-team,' " KIRO-TV wrote, "also paid extra for access to the VIP section of the club where they were provided a number of sexual favors in return for cash." The source then claims to have warned the agents that what they were doing was a "really bad idea," at which point they told him that they "did this all the time," and "not to worry about it." He claims that at least two of the agents then had working women sign into their rooms.
KIROTV's reporter Chris Halsne interviewed the nightclub's owner to confirm the story, and indeed his testimony bore out the details told to him by the government subcontractor. The owner claimed that many Secret Service agents, along with their military escorts, "descended on his club" prior to Obama's visit, for at least three nights in a row. "No surprise to me," he told Halsne. The owner then bragged that his club often hosts guests of this nature, partly because of his reputation for "security" and "privacy," which makes his club a hot commodity among "those who want to be discreet."
The nightclub owner did, however, deny that his girls - who, he stresses, are all at least 18-years-old - work as prostitutes, but conceded that what they do after their shift is up to them and out of his control.
KIRO-TV is planning to air "a series of television stories" on the topic, beginning tonight, April 26, at 5 p.m., Seattle time.
