MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - New data drawn from government documents suggests that the White House knew about a prostitute's visit to the hotel room of a presidential advance-team member, yet did not publicly acknowledge it, The Washington Post reported.
"We were directed at the time … to delay the report of the investigation until after the 2012 election," the newspaper quoted David Nieland, lead investigator with the inspector general's office in the Homeland Security Department, as saying Wednesday.
Nieland claimed his superiors instructed and pressured him to withhold some data as "potentially embarrassing to the administration," The Washington Post said.
"As was reported more than two years ago, the White House conducted an internal review that did not identify any inappropriate behavior on the part of the White House advance team," the newspaper quoted White House spokesman Eric Schultz as saying.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest reacted to the story, posting on Twitter that the case was investigated and dismissed two years ago. "Supposed WaPo "exclusive" was previously reported by AP, CBS, ABC, Politico, The Hill & others - 2 years ago," the tweet said.
However, The Washington Post reported that there was more to the story, and new documents show that White House knew about the prostitute's visit to the hotel room.
About two dozen members of the military and Secret Service were fired or punished over their participation in the 2012 scandal involving a trip to Cartagena, Colombia. The White House denied anyone from the administration had participated in the wrongdoings, according to The Washington Post.
