WASHINGTON — The recently installed director of the scandal-plagued Secret Service is going on the offensive on Capitol Hill, pushing back hard against news reports that two senior agents crashed a government vehicle into a security barrier at the White House after a night of drinking earlier this month.
“Previous reports of a crash are inaccurate – there was no crash,” Clancy said in a statement he prepared for an Thursday afternoon hearing by a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. “The video shows the vehicle entering the White House complex at a speed of approximately 1 to 2 mph, and pushing aside a plastic barrel. There was no damage to the vehicle,” his statement said.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of Clancy’s prepared remarks in advance of the Hill hearing.
Earlier this month The Washington Post reported that a pair of senior agents drove a government vehicle into a White House security barrier after a night of drinking on March 4. The paper also initially reported that the agents may have driven over a suspicious item suspected of being a bomb during the incident. The newspaper later clarified that the vehicle may have actually only driven near the item.