CARTAGENA, Colombia — President Barack Obama said Sunday that he will wait to pass judgment on Secret Service agents accused of improper conduct involving prostitutes, but added that he will be “angry” if the reports of misconduct are true.
The Secret Service put 11 agents on administrative leave Saturday amid allegations they brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms in Cartagena, Colombia, while preparing for Obama’s weekend visit to the city for the Summit of the Americas.
The United States Southern Command said five US service members assigned to the summit violated curfew and also “may have been involved in inappropriate conduct” at the same hotel.
Obama said during a press conference at the close of the summit that he expects the Secret Service investigation of the incident to be “thorough” and “rigorous.”
He said if the allegations are true, “then of course I’ll be angry.”
“We’re representing the people of the United States and when I travel to another country, I expect us to represent the highest standards,” he said. “We’re here on behalf of our people and that means we conduct ourselves with the utmost dignity and probity, and obviously what has been reported doesn’t match up with those standards.”
Before addressing the charges, however, Obama had words of praise for the security force.
“These men and women perform extraordinary service on a day-to-day basis protecting me, my family, US officials,” Obama said. “They do very hard work under very stressful circumstances and almost invariably do an outstanding job.”
Obama said he will wait until the Secret Service investigation is complete to pass judgment.
The incident is also coming under congressional scrutiny.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, both said Sunday that they are looking into the incident.