>>> in the spotlight tonight, new allegations of a state department cover-up. nbc news has obtained documents related to ongoing investigations into eight allegations of misconduct among state department workers, contractors and even an ambassador, an internal inspector general memo from last october stated that the ambassador under investigation "routinely ditched his protective security detail in order to solicit sexual favors from both prostitutes and minor children." the memo also alleged that a senior state department official told diplomatic security to "cease the investigation while the ambassador remains in place." other allegations from the 2012 memo included members of secretary is clinton's protective security detail, allegedly engaging with prostitutes while abroad. there were also allegations of pedophilia, sexual assaults , extra-marital affairs that presented counterintelligence concerns, unauthorized leaking of information, work fraud, and possible underground drug ring . a november draft report from the office of the inspector general stated that inspectors identified several examples of undue influence from within diplomatic security and from the top floor of the state department raising concerns about the integrity of some internal investigations. however, this finding was not in the final draft , which was published this february. state department spokesperson jen sackey said the investigations are ongoing, and that the october 2012 memo had "unsubstantiated accusations in it".

>> the notion that we would not vigorously pursue criminal misconduct is inaccurate. i can assure all of you that the secretary or previous secretary were presented with documented evidence of misconduct they would take appropriate action. but i'm just not going to break down individual cases.

>> joining me now, david corn , washington bureau chief and an msnbc political analyst, well, this is actually the stuff of scandal. this is not about sunday morning talking points . if this stuff stands out to ha -- to have substantiated, there are talking points .

>> i'm using scare quotes out there, sometimes you have to wait to get a little more information as we have seen in benghazi before you really know whether something is indeed wrong, and who it affects or if it goes to the white house , or the top floor of the state department . so it may take a little while to sort that out. you know, number two, though, there are allegations here that involve the very high ranking state department officials, including one who is extremely close to hillary clinton . and the allegation is that this person intervened and helped to kill one of these investigations. now, if that is true, then that gets up to the seventh floor and something that hillary clinton may have to answer to and answer for. so therefore, this is the type of thing that if you look at it at the beginning it could become a problem for hillary clinton . and what do you look for in the next stages of developments of the stories inside this so-called scandal structure that we have here?

>> well, i think in looking at this particular story, you have to sort of you know, i assume there is going to be reporters now who cover the state department and will talk to state department sources who may have something to stay about the whistle-blower, that could bolster the case or undermine the case. there may be good reasons why the general took out some of the stuff. you never know, there may be a lot of people who have beeves because their work is not really appreciated, and sometimes for the right reasons. no doubt darryl issa is chomping at the bit for cases to come out. through there -- but there are eight cases that are dramatic.

>> the whistle-blower is one of eight investigators who worked on some of this material. and some of it already has an echo of truth to it in the sense we had that story about the secret service agents in south america using prostitutes. so when this comes after that and you're talking about security personnel and the state department possibly using prostitutes. that element doesn't suddenly sound like a bad plot in a tv show .

>> and i hate to say this, but the accusation in the ig report a and the state department was basically taint, they took things out which shouldn't be there. which seems to call for, dare i say it, another ig report. there are serious is allegations and you can't really trust darryl issa to do this in a bipartisan way. so this is a job for maybe a senate committee to look at this.

>> david corn , thank you for joining us.

>> my pleasure, lawrence.