Collins presses White House to clear up questions on prostitution scandal

Sen. Susan Collins is asking the White House for more information about the Colombia prostitution scandal after the lead federal investigator said White House personnel may have been involved. 

In a letter sent to the White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler on Friday, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee wrote: 

"While the (Secret Service), Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and Drug Enforcement Agency have all investigated the actions of their personnel in Cartagena and made the results of those investigations available to the Committee, to date the Administration has not explained the apparent inconsistency between its investigation and the findings of the DHS OIG." 

Collins was referencing a Sept. 22 letter to Collins' committee from Department of Homeland Security Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards. He wrote that his office's investigation found "a hotel registry that suggests that two (non-Secret Service) personnel may have had contact with foreign nationals." 

One of those employees, Edwards wrote, was a Defense Department employee "affiliated" with the White House Communication Agency. 

The other, he said, "may have been" affiliated with the White House advance team. The White House, though, denied wrongdoing on the part of that team member. 

The letter came two days after a FoxNews.com report revealed possible White House advance team involvement. 

In the letter sent to White House counsel on Friday, Collins quoted the IG's letter, saying: "These findings appear at odds with a statement made on April 23 by the White House spokesman." 

Collins was referencing Press Secretary Jay Carney's claim at the time that there were "no specific, credible allegations of misconduct" and that a 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." 

Collins is now asking: 

"At the time of the incidents, what positions did these two individuals occupy on the White House or White House-affiliated staffs (including but not limited to the advance team or the White House Communications Agency, and including paid or volunteer positions)?" 

Additional questions directed to White House counsel include details on these two individuals' job duties, what office they were working for on the Cartagena trip and the names of their supervisors. 

Collins also asked for descriptions of the incidents they were allegedly involved in, and the findings and outcome of any investigation into those incidents. 

Collins asked for a response from the White House by Oct. 9. 

In response to the inspector general's letter to Collins on Sept. 22, the White House said the person mentioned as a possible member of the White House advance team was an unpaid volunteer who was not on the White House staff. An administration official also said the volunteer was wrongly implicated based on inaccurate hotel records. 

Contact Jana Winter at jana.winter@foxnews.com 

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White House pressed on why Obama UN itinerary doesn't include meetings with world leaders

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney faced pressure to explain Monday why President Obama has made no public plans to meet one on one with world leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. 

Asked repeatedly at the briefing about the president's plans, Carney said that Obama likely would run into foreign leaders at a reception Monday evening and continues to stay in contact with them. He urged Americans to tune in to the president's U.N. speech on Tuesday. 

"The president's obviously got a busy schedule. He has a busy schedule all the time," Carney said at one point. 

But Carney did not appear to give a direct answer when asked why Obama was able to fit in 13 one-on-one meetings on the sidelines of last year's summit and none this year. Obama instead was letting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handle the meetings this year while he and first lady Michelle Obama were sitting down Monday for a taping of ABC's "The View" -- sparking criticism that he was putting the election campaign above such issues as Iran's quest for nuclear capability and the violent, deadly protests in the Middle East and North Africa. 

It's still possible that Obama could schedule a last-minute meeting, but none so far have been announced. 

Carney stressed that, amid the violent unrest in the Middle East, Obama recently has had phone conversations with the leaders of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and other nations. 

"The president has had extensive conversations with leaders in the region where there has been unrest of late, he will continue to have those conversations," he said. "He will see leaders from a variety of regions tonight at a reception in New York as part of the General Assembly and will deliver very important remarks tomorrow." 

Clinton was handling the major meetings Monday. The secretary was meeting with Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. 

The wave of criticism about Obama allegedly putting his election efforts first began earlier this month with news that the White House had declined a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because the president would be on the campaign trail. 

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has repeatedly accused Obama of "throwing Israel under the bus" and most recently said the president's decision not to meet with Netanyahu was "confusing and troubling." 

White House officials have said such a meeting is perhaps still possible Thursday or Friday. 

Romney backed up his comments Sunday by saying that declining the meeting was a "mistake" -- as Netanyahu looks to the United States for assurance that it will stand tough or draw a "red line" that Iran cannot cross in its efforts to build a nuclear weapon. 

"It sends a message throughout the Middle East that somehow we distance ourselves from our friends," Romney said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview. 

The president -- in a separate interview for the show -- said he talks with Netanyahu "all the time." 

"I understand and share Prime Minister Netanyahu's insistence that Iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon because it would threaten us, it would threaten Israel and it would threaten the world and kick off a nuclear arms race," Obama said. 

Carney noted Monday that Obama and Netanyahu recently spoke by phone for over an hour.

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Federal investigator: White House personnel may have been involved in Colombia prostitution scandal

The lead federal investigator into the Colombia prostitution scandal said for the first time Friday that White House personnel may have been involved -- despite administration claims to the contrary. 

Charles Edwards, the acting inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, wrote in a letter to Sen. Susan Collins that his office's investigation into the April incident found "a hotel registry that suggests that two (non-Secret Service) personnel may have had contact with foreign nationals." 

The letter came two days after a FoxNews.com report revealed possible White House advance team involvement. 

One of those employees, Edwards wrote, was a Defense Department employee "affiliated" with the White House Communication Agency. 

The other, he said, "may have been" affiliated with the White House advance team. 

The White House denied the claims Friday. And Edwards wrote that his office did not pursue those leads "because they are not DHS personnel." 

Edwards wrote that while the allegations that went beyond the Secret Service "were outside the scope of the investigation, one of these employees is a Department of Defense employee affiliated with the White House Communication Agency and the other, whose employment status was not verified, may have been affiliated with the White House advance operation." 

That statement, though, calls into question claims made back in April by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney about the possible involvement of the White House team. Carney said that the White House counsel's office conducted a review and "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." 

The Obama administration stood by its original claims in reaction to Edwards' statements. 

A senior administration official said the member of the advance team was a "volunteer," as opposed to a White House employee. Further, the official said the volunteer was wrongly implicated based on inaccurate hotel records. 

White House spokesman Eric Schultz backed up Carney in standing by the original White House review. 

"As we've said for months, the White House review concluded that no members of the White House advance team, either staff or volunteers, engaged in inappropriate conduct during the president's trip to Colombia," Schultz said. 

Collins said in a statement Friday she was "troubled" by the new revelations, though, citing Carney's original claim. 

"On April 23, the White House spokesman said that the White House counsel's office had conducted its own review and concluded there had been no credible allegations of misconduct by anyone on the White House advance team or the White House staff. The White House explicitly denied any involvement after its own investigation and now the IG is questioning that account. This raises concerns about the credibility of the White House investigation," she said. 

A Secret Service source who was on the April Cartagena trip also questioned Edwards' claim that the leads were not pursued. The source told FoxNews.com that agents on the trip were specifically asked about White House staff, and that those leads were pursued by the DHS investigators. 

"He is lying that (White House) leads weren't pursued. I was asked by ... investigators if I knew about (White House) staff with girls along with many other (Secret Service) types that were interviewed," the source said. 

"He is playing with the truth," the source said of the IG's claim that White House leads weren't followed. "We were questioned specifically about the White House staff. We were all questioned." 

Edwards' letter came in response to an inquiry from Collins about the status of the DHS internal investigation. A spokesman for the DHS inspector general told FoxNews.com earlier this week that the investigation had recently been completed and the report would be submitted to administration officials in a matter of days. 

On Wednesday, FoxNews.com reported exclusively that the probe conducted by Department of Homeland Security investigators into the Cartagena scandal turned up claims that two members of the White House team had checked in prostitutes to the Hilton hotel in Cartagena. 

When Carney was asked Thursday about the forthcoming investigative report on the Colombia prostitution scandal, and the FoxNews.com report, Carney noted that the report was not yet public and that the White House had not seen it. 

"I have no comment on an IG report that nobody has seen," he said. "We'll await the report." 

Carney, though, said the White House stands by its counsel's office report from April concluding no White House staff involvement.    

Edwards, in his letter, asked to schedule a time with Collins to provide "a personal briefing on the scope of the investigation and a summary of our general findings." 

The letter to Collins was also sent to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who fired off a letter of his own on Thursday to White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler demanding answers about the alleged White House personnel involvement. 

Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, cited the earlier FoxNews.com report and asked a string of pointed questions -- namely, he noted the White House never got back to him with more information about its counsel review and asked about the forthcoming investigative report. 

"Now more allegations have arisen regarding White House personnel procuring prostitutes during the President's trip to Colombia," Grassley wrote. 

He asked whether the White House has been in contact with the inspector general's office, whether the White House had any input in drafting the report and if the Secret Service was aware of alleged involvement of White House personnel. "If the report includes the findings that are being reported how did your initial review fail to uncover the involvement of these staffers?" Grassley wrote. 

The letter from Edwards also provided additional details about the original investigation into the Secret Service. 

Edwards wrote that investigators interviewed 251 Secret Service personnel, as well as reviewed travel records and hotel registries. 

"Based on these interviews and the review of these records, we identified thirteen individuals who were then employed by the USSS (Secret Service) who had personal encounters with female Colombian nationals consistent with the misconduct reported around the time of advance activities for the President's visit to Cartagena," he wrote. 

He said the encounters took place at the Hotel Caribe, the Hilton Cartagena and at a private residence. "Our investigation determined that twelve of these thirteen USSS employees met the female Colombia nationals at bars or clubs and returned with them to their rooms at the Hotel Caribe or the Hilton Cartagena Hotel. In addition, one USSS employee met a female Colombian national at private residence," he wrote. 

Three of the women left without asking money, five asked for money and were paid and four asked for money and were not paid, Edwards wrote. Police arrived on the scene when one of those women complained. 

"Although we found that these agents engaged in misconduct, our investigation developed no evidence to suggest that the actions of USSS personnel in Cartagena compromised the safety and security of the President or any sensitive information during this trip," he wrote. 

A voicemail left for a spokesman for the DHS inspector general requesting comment on the letter was not immediately returned. 

Contact Jana Winter at jana.winter@foxnews.com

FoxNews.com's Judson Berger contributed to this report. 

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White House warns planned budget cuts 'deeply destructive' to military, other agencies

A new White House report issued Friday warns that $110 billion in across-the-board spending cuts at the start of the new year would be "deeply destructive" to the military and core government responsibilities like patrolling U.S. borders and air traffic control.

The report says the automatic cuts, mandated by the failure of last year's congressional deficit "supercommittee" to strike a budget deal, would require an across-the-board cut of 9 percent to most Pentagon programs and an 8 percent cut in many domestic programs. The process of automatic cuts is called sequestration, and the administration has no flexibility in how to distribute the cuts, other than to exempt military personnel and war-fighting accounts.

"Sequestration would be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments and core government functions," the report says.

The cuts, combined with the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts at the end of the year, have been dubbed the "fiscal cliff." Economists warn that the one-two punch could drive the economy back into recession.

The across-the-board cuts were devised as part of last summer's budget and debt deal between President Barack Obama and Capitol Hill Republicans. They were intended to drive the supercommittee — evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans — to strike a compromise. But the panel deadlocked and the warring combatants have spent more time since then blaming each other for the looming cuts than seeking ways to avoid them.

The White House report continues in that vein, blasting House Republicans for an approach to avoiding the sequester that relies on further cuts to domestic programs while protecting upper-bracket taxpayers from higher rates proposed by the president.

In advance of the report's release, White House press secretary Jay Carney went on the offensive, blasting "the adamant refusal of Republicans to accept the fundamental principle that we ought to deal with our fiscal challenges in a balanced way."

In advance of the election, rival Democratic and GOP sides are dug in, unwilling to make the required compromises and unable to trust the other side. It's commonly assumed that there will be more serious efforts to forestall the cuts in a postelection lame duck session, though it may only be for a short time, to give the next Congress and whoever occupies the White House a chance to work out a longer-term solution.

If not, sharp cuts are on the way.

The report warns that the Pentagon faces cuts that "would result in a reduction in readiness of many nondeployed units, delays in investments in new equipment and facilities, cutbacks in equipment repairs, declines in military research and development efforts and reductions in base services for military families."

On the domestic front, the White House warns of dire effects as well.

"The number of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, Customs and Border Patrol agents, correctional officers and federal prosecutors would be slashed. The Federal Aviation Administration's ability to oversee and manage the nation's airspace and air traffic control would be reduced," the report says. "The Department of Agriculture's efforts to inspect food processing plants and prevent foodborne illnesses would be curtailed."

Many big programs, like Social Security, Medicaid, federal employee pensions and veterans' benefits and health care would be exempted. Medicare would be limited to an $11 billion, 2 percent cut in provider payments.

Also cut would be $14 million to treat emergency responders and others made ill as a result of the 9/11 attacks; $33 million for federal prosecution of violent crimes against women; and $2.5 billion for medical research and other work by the National Institutes of Health.

Other cuts would include $5 million from Obama's own office at the White House; $140 million from financial aid for college students; $216 million from efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons; $471 million from highway construction and $1 billion from aid for handicapped and children with other special needs.

The 394-page report, however, simply lists the dollar amount of the cuts but fails to address their real-world impact. For instance, it would cut the number of food inspectors and air traffic controllers on the job. But when asked on a conference call, a top White House official wouldn't say whether such cuts would require closing meatpacking plants or shutting down smaller airports.

"The report makes clear that sequestration would cause great disruptions across many vital services, from cancer research at NIH to food safety efforts at the Department of Agriculture, and public safety at the FBI to lowered military readiness," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the Budget Committee's top Democrat. "It's time to stop the political games and start working together to prevent the sequester, protect the economic recovery and get our fiscal house in order."

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US ambassador to Libya, 3 American staff members killed in attack

The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other American staff members were killed Tuesday in an attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, the White House confirmed. President Obama, in a written statement issued Wednesday morning, called the attack "outrageous" and "senseless." 

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed Tuesday night when he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff. The protesters, angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad, were firing gunshots and rocket-propelled grenades. 

"I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens," President Obama said in a statement Wednesday morning. "Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America's commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives." 

Obama said he's directed the administration to provide "all necessary resources" to support security for U.S. personnel in Libya and to increase security at diplomatic offices around the world. 

"While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants," he said. 

Obama called Stevens "a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States" who "selflessly served our country and the Libyan people" throughout the Libyan revolution. 

"His legacy will endure wherever human beings reach for liberty and justice," the president said. 

The State Department identified one of the other three Americans killed as Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, a husband and father of two who had worked for the State Department for 10 years. The U.S. government is still notifying the next of kin for the other two individuals killed, and has not identified them. 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Stevens as a passionate and dedicated diplomat who had devoted himself to the transition in post-Qaddafi Libya. 

"As the conflict in Libya unfolded, Chris was one of the first Americans on the ground in Benghazi.  He risked his own life to lend the Libyan people a helping hand to build the foundation for a new, free nation," she said. 

Stevens was appointed as ambassador to Libya in May 2012. 

He served as a special representative to the Libyan Transitional National Council during the revolution in 2011, and as the deputy chief of mission from 2007 to 2009. Originally from California, Stevens was an international trade lawyer before joining the Foreign Service in the early 1990s. He also served as a volunteer in the Peace Corps from 1983 to 1985, teaching English in Morocco. 

U.S. officials remain on alert for violence at other diplomatic posts. 

Hours before the Benghazi attack, hundreds of mainly ultraconservative Islamist protesters in Egypt marched to the U.S. Embassy in downtown Cairo, gathering outside its walls and chanting against the movie and the U.S. Most of the embassy staff had left the compound earlier because of warnings of the upcoming demonstration. 

Dozens of protesters then scaled the embassy walls, and several went into the courtyard and took down the American flag from a pole. 

They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried to burn it, but failing that tore it apart. The protesters on the wall then raised on the flagpole a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet." The flag, similar to the banner used by Al Qaeda, is commonly used by ultraconservatives around the region. 

On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Algiers was warning Americans in the country to avoid non-essential travel amid calls for more protests after the Libya attack. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Look at Severus Snape as President Reagan

Oprah Winfrey recently tweeted photos from the set of the White House drama The Butler, including the photo below showing Harry Potter and Die Hard heavy Alan Rickman as President Ronald Reagan. That's The Newsroom's Jane Fonda next to Rickman as First Lady Nancy Reagan, with Winfrey and The Butler's director Lee Daniels.

The Washington Post has the lowdown on the fact-based film, which stars Forrest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines and his decades of service in the White House. Winfrey co-stars as his wife Gloria.

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Pokémon News: Catch Genesect!

We're only a few weeks out from the stateside release of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, the next set of games in the core Pokémon series. To celebrate the October 7 launch of these new games, Nintendo is finally giving players outside Japan the chance to catch the elusive legendary monster Genesect.

I choose you, Genesect!

Anyone who purchases either Pokémon Black 2 or Pokémon White 2 between October 7 and November 12 can receive Genesect simply by connecting to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It has a signature move called Techno Blast, and is a Bug- and Steel-type Pokémon with the ability to adjust its power levels based on the foe it's battling.

For all things Pokémon, keep it here on IGN - and don't forget to check out our latest Pokémon Profile - this week it's Bulbasaur!

Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her wild adventures on her IGN blog and Twitter. Game on!

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