ABC "This Week" - Transcript

Interview

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning. The headlines out of Washington this week swirled around a single theme: federal workers behaving badly. At the GSA, the depth of wasteful spending became clear when new photos showed official Jeffrey Neely living the high life at a Las Vegas hotel at taxpayer expense.

And the scandal involving the president's security detail in Colombia continues to spread, with six Secret Service agents now forced out, six others still under investigation, and 11 members of the military also under scrutiny.

The White House says security was not compromised and is standing by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, who personally briefed the president Friday. But Congress is stepping up its investigations, and our headliners are at the center of that work, Maine Senator Susan Collins, the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, and New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney from the House Oversight Committee.

Welcome to you both. I think it's appropriate that we have female legislators here today, because we just learned this morning that the agent who swept in and cleaned this all up, female agent Paula Reid, head of the service detail down in Latin America, and she seemed to get to the bottom of this quickly.

COLLINS: She did. She acted decisively, appropriately, and I can't help but wonder if there'd been more women as part of that detail if this ever would have happened.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, what's the latest, though, on the investigation?

MALONEY: I would like to say I talked to Director Sullivan last night, and he was commending her leadership, too. She really went in there and cleaned up the mess. And one thing I asked him is, how many women are on the force? It's only 11 percent of the agents are women.

And if -- we agree on this. If there were more agents on the ground, maybe we would not have had this.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Only 11 percent?

MALONEY: And I can't help but keep asking this question, where are the women? We probably need to diversify the Secret Service and have more minorities and more women.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That is an excellent point. Let me -- let's get to this investigation right now. We learned, Senator, from McClatchy news this morning that Colombian police are now investigating whether any of the women involved in this scandal were underage. And we know that at least six agents have been forced to leave their jobs. Do we have any evidence that underage women were involved? And do you expect more agents to go?

COLLINS: That's an issue that I raised with the director, and he told me that at this point there is no evidence of underage women. But, frankly, in some ways, although that would make the matters worse...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Illegal.

COLLINS: ... it would make it illegal, so that obviously makes it worse. It is beside the point as far as the broader issue. Most Secret Service agents do an extraordinary job, and they're very disciplined and professional. But what are Secret Service personnel doing bringing unknown foreign nationals to their rooms, regardless of their age?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Again, that is an excellent point. And the chairman of your committee has sent a letter to Director Sullivan suggesting that those four nationals may have come in contact with sensitive security information. Do you have any evidence of that?

MALONEY: Well, I -- I spoke to Director Sullivan last night. And he is doing a thorough investigation. He does not believe that security was compromised in any way for the president or any national leader.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you pretty confident of that at this point?

MALONEY: Well, the investigation is going forward. We don't have all of the facts yet. We need to wait until the end. I know that he found -- another person was implicated. He announced that immediately. I'm pleased that the whole process is very transparent. And we'll see at the end. And the Oversight Committee will be holding hearings when the information comes out, and we are going to get to the bottom of this.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But, Senator, you said you find this hard to believe that this is a one-time incident.

COLLINS: I do. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of Secret Service personnel are professional, disciplined, dedicated, courageous. But to me it defies belief that this is just an aberration. There were too many people involved. If it had been one or two, then I would say it was an aberration. But it included two supervisors. That is particularly shocking and appalling.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And one of those supervisors, who's now been forced out, David Chaney, had also posted a picture of himself on Facebook -- I want to put it up right here showing him. He was supposed to be protecting Sarah Palin, but as you see there, he said, "I was really checking her out, if you know what I mean." And that brought a sharp rebuke from Palin, who said it was evidence of government run amok.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: The store around here -- the buck stops with the president. And he's really got to start cracking down and seeing some heads roll. You know, he's got to rid of these people at the head of these agencies where so many things obviously are amiss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Should heads roll?

MALONEY: Well, I -- I think she's right. The buck stops with the president, and the president makes reasoned decisions based on the facts, not based on political reflex. We call that leadership. And he's had fine leadership in many ways. We have 1.4 million new jobs in the auto industry. He signed a credit card bill of rights that the Pew Foundation says saves consumers $10 billion a year. He reformed health care to cover 30 million people. And Osama bin Laden is gone.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But -- but how about Director Sullivan? Should the Secret Service director be keeping his job?

MALONEY: Well, I think let's see what his -- what the facts are. Let's see what his report is. You don't go in and roll heads on innuendo. I think we're all familiar with that, George, and political reflexes to actions, and let's see what his report says. I know he's on the case. He's committed. He's working hard. He was appointed by former President Bush. Let's see his report. The president is standing behind him and will look at his report and make a decision.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Does he still have your confidence?

COLLINS: George, he does at this point. I'm confident that he's doing a no-holds-barred investigation. I would distinguish this situation from GSA. In the case of GSA, the administration clearly bears responsibility, because the head of that agency received an alert from the inspector general way last year that...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Back in May of 2011.

COLLINS: ... there were problems, exactly, and took no action. That's very different. She was a member of the president's administration, and she deserved to be fired, and the president is responsible in that case.

In the case of the Secret Service, I believe the director thus far has acted exactly appropriately and is trying to get to the bottom of it. And the president bears no role in that scandal.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's pick up on the GSA, because Mitt Romney also weighed in on that this week with similar comments -- to Senator Collins. He was talking to Laura Ingraham on a radio show.

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ROMNEY: Any large enterprise, there will be people who disappoint. But you have to have the people at the top, the leaders who set the right kind of example, and people who are willing to put the interests of the nation ahead of their -- their personal play time.

INGRAHAM: What would you do right now to do it -- to fix it?

ROMNEY: Well, I'd clean house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, and as the senator said, Congresswoman, the White House did have notice of this last year that the inspector general report was going forward. They have gotten rid of the leaders right now. But should there be a more general house-cleaning of the GSA? And how deep was this institutional problem?

MALONEY: Well, I agree with the senator that she should be fired, and she was fired. And I want to publicly thank you for your vote on the Buffett rule and for fair treatment in taxes. I think that was an important vote and one that I wished more Republicans had voted with the president in that way.

They have come forward with changes. One that I think is tremendously important is that the regional offices control their payrolls. They controlled how the money was spent and could finance these conferences. That has been changed. We will be going forward with a lot of other changes and recommendations that have come out from the I.G., and I believe this is something bipartisan. No one supports...

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you think more should be done?

COLLINS: I do.

MALONEY: ... waste and fraud...

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: I do. First of all, the GSA is the agency that's supposed to be setting the example for other agencies. It has widespread responsibility for federal contracting, so its actions set a bad example across government. And it's also unfair to the thousands of federal employees who act appropriately, because this reinforces the worst perception.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think you understand how something like this could happen?

COLLINS: No. And that is what is so incredible. In both cases, I'm saying, what were they thinking? And the fact is, the Republicans in the Senate have been trying to put limits on excessive conferences and travel for some time, and we've been blocked. This shouldn't be a partisan issue, and I hope now it won't be anymore.

MALONEY: I know it shouldn't be partisan, but I'm very pleased that a Democratic political employee was the one who blew the whistle that announced that this -- this misuse of taxpayers' money...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why didn't the White House act more quickly? Do you know yet?

MALONEY: Well, we're having hearings on it. We're looking at it. We'll continue to look at it. People have been fired. Recommendations have come in. We're waiting for this particular report to be finished, too, so we want to look at the facts and move forward and make sure it never happens again. We agree on that.

COLLINS: Can you imagine, though, George, this is a head of an agency who receives a report from the inspector general and does nothing about it? That to me is extraordinary. This isn't just rumor within the agency. It isn't just one person. It's the inspector general who has come to the head of the agency and says, "You have a real problem. There are thousands of taxpayer dollars at risk here." And she does nothing about it.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And that is -- I guess that's why she's now lost her job.

MALONEY: Yeah, she's been fired.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Before we go, I guess, Senator, I want to ask you one more question. You often strike an independent path, and the congresswoman just brought up your vote on the Buffett rule this week. I notice that you haven't yet endorsed Mitt Romney. Have you not made up your mind in the presidential race?

COLLINS: I have endorsed Mitt Romney. I haven't done a formal endorsement, but I think he's exactly the person we need to deal particularly with the economic issues facing our country.

STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, Senator, Congresswoman, thank you very much for your time this morning.

MALONEY: Thank you.

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