Flashback: W.H. Denies Any W.H. Staffers Involved in Secret Service Prostitution Scandal

In an April 23 press briefing, the Associated Press's Ben Feller asked then White House press secretary Jay Carney whether any White House staff were being investigated as part of the Secret Service prostitution scandal. Carney flatly said no. 

"The White House Counsel’s office has conducted a review of the White House advance team, and in concluding that review, came to the conclusion that there’s no indication that any member of the White House advance team engaged in any improper conduct or behavior," Carney said. "So, simply out of due diligence, over the last several days that review was conducted, and it produced no indication of any misconduct."

Today the Washington Post reports the White House was well aware of a member of its advance team being caught with prostitutes. Here's that report: 

Aides knew of possible White House link to Cartagena, Colombia, prostitution scandal (The Washington Post)

As nearly two dozen Secret Service agents and members of the military were punished or fired following a 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia, Obama administration officials repeatedly denied that anyone from the White House was involved.

But new details drawn from government documents and interviews show that senior White House aides were given information at the time suggesting that a prostitute was an overnight guest in the hotel room of a presidential advance-team member — yet that information was never thoroughly investigated or publicly acknowledged.

The information that the Secret Service shared with the White House included hotel records and firsthand accounts — the same types of evidence the agency and military relied on to determine who in their ranks was involved.