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Gatecrashing Salahis called up by House Panel to explain their entry | The aspiring reality TV stars - Michaele and Tareq Salahi, who crashed their way to President Obama's first state dinner in honour of Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, have been called up to Capitol Hill on Thursday along with the director of the Secret Service to explain how security was breached at the gala White House event. The
House Homeland Security Committee insists that the White House needs to provide
answers on why nobody from the social secretary's office or liaison staff was
at the party entrance to check guests, as has been the custom for state dinners.
"This is a time for answers. This is not the time for political games or scapegoating
to distract our attention from the careful oversight we must apply to the Secret
Service and its mission," The Washington Post quoted Rep. Bennie Thompson, Homeland
Security panel chairman, as saying. Earlier, it was revealed that Salahis had
exchanged e-mails with Michele S. Jones, a special assistant to Defence Secretary
Robert Gates, to get entry to the gala event. "There was e-mail correspondence
confirming they were legitimately supposed to be there. They understood they were
invited," said Casey Margenau, a close friend of the couple. Jones, in her emails,
assured Salahis that she was trying to score an official invitation, complete
with seats at the dinner, for the couple. It was unclear how well the Salahis
know Jones, but Jones includes the Salahis' lawyer, Paul W. Gardner, as one of
her 50 friends on Facebook. "I did not state at any time, or imply that I had
tickets for any portion of the evening's events. I specifically stated that they
did not have tickets," Jones said in a statement released by the White House.
"And in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance
or access to any part of the evening's activities. Even though I informed them
of this, they still decided to come." |
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