Three Secret Service agents leave amid scandal
One was allowed to retire, one was 'removed for cause,' and the other resigned.
Three Secret Service agents are leaving the agency amid the scandal that unfolded in Colombia over the weekend, news media reported on Wednesday.
One agent was allowed to retire, one was "removed for cause," and the other resigned, CBS News reported. The other eight agents remain on administrative leave.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, a woman who says she engaged with the Secret Service agents accused of misconduct in Colombia said the agents were "very discreet" and didn't tell her why they were there, The New York Times reported.
In an interview with The Times, the woman, who said she quarreled with a Secret Service agent who refused to pay her, revealed that she had not known he worked with President Obama. She said she had asked him for $800 for her services, but by the next morning, the agent shirked on the deal, offering her instead the equivalent of about $30.
After a brief dispute during which the man called her an expletive, she left, running into a police offer on her way out. The woman -- whose account, The Times said, could not be independently verified -- was escorted back to the room, where a conflict escalated until agents gave her about $225 in U.S. and Colombian currency, and she left.
The woman's account adds a new level of detail to the expanding scandal surrounding 11 Secret Service agents and 10 U.S. military members who were accused of misconduct with as many as 21 women in Cartagena, Colombia, while preparing for Obama's recent visit there. The agents allegedly involved were immediately sent home and had their security clearances revoked, and the Secret Service and U.S. military are conducting investigations.