NY: The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee today said he has declined a meeting with the Colombian woman at the centre of the Secret Service prostitution scandal he is investigating.
Congressman Pete King said in a written statement a lawyer for Dania Londono Suarez asked his staff for a meeting with him in his Washington, DC office.
According to the Daily Mail report, the Republican Representative from New York said he declined the proposal to avoid the inevitable media 'circus' that would follow.
The statement from King read: 'Late last Thursday, an attorney for Dania Londono Suarez contacted committee staff and requested that I meet with his client in my office.
'While such a meeting - and the inevitable circus atmosphere surrounding it - would no doubt be of great interest to the media covering this story, a meeting with her is simply not necessary at this time for the committee to conduct a serious and thorough investigation.
'For now, I have directed my staff to communicate with and gather information about the misconduct from the woman via her attorney.'
The congressman is leading investigations into the misconduct that reportedly occurred last month in advance of President Obama's trip to Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas.
Nine Secret Service agents have lost their jobs in the scandal, although there is no evidence any of the 10 women interviewed by U.S. investigators for their roles in it have any connection to terrorist groups.
King did not elaborate about the reason behind the request for an in-person meeting by Londono, although he did confirm she met with investigators at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid on Thursday.
'During her interview with the Secret Service, Ms Suarez acknowledged that at no time did she have access to any sensitive information whatsoever and had no idea that she had been involved with a Secret Service agent,' King said Sunday.
King had expressed concern last month investigators were unable to locate Londono and another foreign national believed to be connected to the scandal. Londono had instead surfaced in the media, giving candid interviews about her alleged involvement.
In a radio and television interview from Madrid on May 4, Londono said she works as a prostitute in Colombia, catering to foreigners. She said after leaving Colombia, she spent some time in Dubai before going to Madrid.
Londono said she met a Secret Service employee at a club in Cartagena, Colombia, last month and escorted him back to his hotel after a night of heavy drinking.
'I told him it would be $800 and he said that was fine and not a problem,' Londono said in Spanish.
But the next morning the officer refused to pay, offering her only about $30 for a taxi. Londono said she was insulted and tried for several hours to get paid, eventually asking a local police officer at the hotel for help. Prostitution is legal in Colombia.
She said the April 12 argument ended when other Secret Service officers at the Hotel Caribe paid her about $250.
She described the officers involved as 'fools' and said the whole situation could have been avoided if the man she spent the night with had just paid her.
'There wouldn't have been a problem if he had paid me money,' Londono said. Since the scandal emerged, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan has issued new conduct rules for officers and agents traveling abroad.
In some cases, chaperones will be sent on trips, and employees will be barred from visiting disreputable establishments, drinking heavily or within 10 hours of a shift.
The new rules also bar employees from bringing foreigners to their hotel rooms. A public hearing on the prostitution scandal is scheduled for May 23, in which Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards are expected to testify.
