An uninvited guests joined the Whitehouse state dinner last Tuesday, November 24, 2009, in Washington. The couple was identified as Michaele and Tareq Salahi who are from Northern Virginia. The couple is said to be party crashers and aspiring reality TV stars who joined President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel with the other Cabinet members, CBS News anchor Katie Couric, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and his wife, AR Rahman, Congressman Ed Royce of California, President of Pepsi World Wide Indra Nooyi, Robin Roberts, and other VIP guests to honor Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
In the picture above, you will see Michaele Salahi on the right wearing a striking red and gold lehenga, Tareq Salahi is on the left wearing a tux and Vice President Joe Biden smiling at the center. Vice President Biden entertained the couple by taking a picture with them and he didn’t know that the couple are strangers in the said event. The photo below shows the couple with the US Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Emanuel might be seeing this photo by now and he might be a bit disappointed to the Secret Service officials.
So what happened to the tight security of the White House?
Washington Post made a report and asked the security officials if the couple were really invited to the said private event after they boasted their pictures which are still posted in their Facebook account. Secret Service special agent Edwin M. Donovan confirmed that the couple was not on their list as their guest.
According to Mr. Donovan, the couple underwent screening for weapons like all the other guests so he said that President Obama with the rest of known political figures were all safe. But he admitted that a Secret Service checkpoint did not follow proper procedures to carefully checked if the couple were on the guest list for the dinner. It may happened that no one suspected that the couple are not officially invited or the couple lied to the the secret Service agent. The former Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush, Frances Townsend, said that if the couple lied to the Secret Service then it could bring a felony charge while The Post said that they couple can be charge for trespassing if no one from White House officials slipped them in. Mr Donovan did not comment regarding the couple’s violation of the law but he said that they will further review the incident. Until now, The Whitehouse have not yet released their official statement regarding this security breach.
It is not just an ordinary dinner party or prom night, one must take note that it is the Obama administration’s biggest social event to date. How come this couple have surpassed the strict and high levels of security in Obama’s state dinner? They were happily walking and taking pictures with high officials of The US government and they were in the same room as President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It is a shame to the Secret Service group that a certain couple managed to escape from their so-called different levels of security. The US officials may be worried about this for it may happened again if they will just set aside this incident. Who is/are responsible for this one?
IMAGE CREDIT: Michaele Salahi / FACEBOOK
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[...] PHOTO: President Obama state dinner crashers Michaele And Tareq Salahi take a pose with widely reknowned singer of famous song “Jai Ho” from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire,” AR Rahman. Read full details here – Tareq and Michaele Crashed Obama’s State Dinner [...]
I am delighted that my friends, Michaele and Tareq were there! As a result, their presence definitely upgraded the affair. They are a class couple!
Agree. They always add class & fun to anything they do.