November 28, 2009
Uninvited Pair Met Obama; Secret Service Offers Apology By HELENE COOPER and BRIAN STELTER
WASHINGTON — President Obama and his wife, Michelle, had a face-to-face encounter with the couple who sneaked into a state dinner at the White House this week, White House officials acknowledged on Friday. The revelation underscored the seriousness of the security breach and prompted an abject apology from the Secret Service.
A White House spokesman said that the couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi of Virginia, met and shook hands with the president and the first lady in the receiving line in the Blue Room, as the Obamas greeted each of their 400 invited guests Tuesday night before moving to a tent on the South Lawn for dinner.
That disclosure coincided with a statement from the director of the Secret Service, Mark Sullivan, saying that his agency was “deeply concerned and embarrassed” by the events. Secret Service officials said the agency wanted to interview everyone connected with the episode, including the Salahis, and had not ruled out criminal charges.
“The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint, verifying that two individuals were on the guest list,” Mr. Sullivan said.
“Although these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely,” Mr. Sullivan said. “That failing is ours.”
On Friday night, the White House released a photograph of the couple in the receiving line, being greeted by Mr. Obama. In the photo, a smiling Mrs. Salahi, wearing a red and gold sari, is clasping Mr. Obama’s hand with both of hers, as her husband looks on. The prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, is standing next to Mr. Obama.
Mrs. Salahi’s Facebook page has photographs of the couple with officials including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. It is not known who took the pictures.
The couple’s lawyer, Paul W. Gardner of Baltimore, asserts that the Salahis had been “cleared, by the White House,” to be at the event, and so were not really “crashing.” Mr. Gardner declined a request to elaborate on his assertion.
But a Secret Service spokesman, James Mackin, said he had no idea how Mr. Gardner could make such a claim.
For their part, White House officials took pains to publicly refrain from criticizing the Secret Service.
“The men and women of the Secret Service put their lives on the line every day to protect us; they are heroes, and they have the full confidence of the president of United States,” said Nick Shapiro, a White House spokesman. “The White House asked the United States Secret Service to do a full review, and they are doing that. The United States Secret Service said they made a mistake, and they are taking action to identify exactly what happened, and they will take the appropriate measures pending the results of their investigation.”
Domestic security experts said that the episode raised serious questions about protection for the president. Ronald Kessler, author of “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect,” said threats against the president had increased 400 percent since Mr. Obama took office.
On Friday, agents went to a Virginia winery founded by Mr. Salahi’s father in search of the couple, one administration official said. A phone call to the establishment, Oasis Winery in Hume, Va., was not returned. The winery’s ownership has been the subject of extensive litigation involving disputes within the family. The Salahis and the winery were saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars of unpaid bills, according to bankruptcy and legal findings in Virginia.
Mr. and Mrs. Salahi, who are known in the area to have a taste for polo and fine wine, are aspiring reality-show celebrities. For months, the couple have been trailed by camera crews with the cable channel Bravo, as it prepared for a new show, “The Real Housewives of D.C.”
Seemingly distancing itself from the Salahis’ actions, Bravo said Friday that it would not comment about “ongoing investigations.” Earlier, the channel said that while its cameras were filming the Salahis before the dinner, producers were told by the couple that they had been invited to it.
The Salahis have not officially been selected for the “Housewives” show.
“The decision as to who will be included in the series will not be made for several months,” Bravo said Friday.
By the sometimes twisted logic of reality TV, it is hard to tell whether the publicity surrounding the state dinner would help or hinder the couple’s goals.
For the breakout stars of the multicity “Housewives” franchise, reality television is a full-time — and lucrative — job. Between per-episode fees, endorsements and public appearances, “Housewives” cast members can net six-figure salaries, said a producer with knowledge of the franchise.
In a brutal economy, fortune is an even bigger motivator than fame for many aspiring reality television contestants, producers and researchers say.
Financial hardships were clearly a factor for the Heene family of Fort Collins, Colo., who gained nationwide attention last month when they claimed that their child had floated away on a homemade flying saucer. According to a police affidavit, the Heenes were working with a production company to pitch a television series to networks at the time. The parents pleaded guilty in the case this month.
Both reality television and the Internet have trained people “to brand themselves, to distribute themselves, to get themselves out there,” said James Hay, a communications professor at the University of Illinois and a co-author of the book “Better Living Through Reality TV.”
David Stout contributed reporting.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/us/politics/28crasher.html?_r=1&hp