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 "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 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.
However, Edwards wrote that the office did not pursue those leads "because they are not DHS personnel."
Edwards wrote: "Although allegations related to the non-USSS personnel 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, appears to conflict with 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."
Carney stood by that report on Thursday.
Collins said in a statement she was "troubled" by the new revelations, 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.
Edwards' letter came in response to an inquiry from Collins about the status of the DHS OIG investigation. A DHS OIG spokesman 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.
FoxNews.com asked the White House prior to publishing the Wednesday article if it was aware of the allegations and did not receive a response.
When Carney was asked Thursday about the forthcoming IG Report on the Colombia prostitution scandal, and the FoxNews.com report, Carney noted that the IG 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."
FoxNews.com's Judson Berger contributed to this report.
