2009 U.S. state dinner security breaches
Encyclopedia
On November 24, 2009, Michaele and Tareq Salahi
( and ˈtɑrɛk sɑːˈlɑːhiː), a married couple from Virginia
, and Carlos Allen (from the District of Columbia), attended a White House
state dinner for India
n Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
, allegedly without being invited guests. The Salahis and Allen arrived separately and did not appear to have colluded in their efforts. They were able to pass through two security checkpoints (including one requiring positive photo identification
), enter the White House complex, and meet President Barack Obama
. Fallout from the incident included an array of security investigations, legal inquiries, and sensationalistic
reporting.
Camera crews for the show filmed the Salahis' preparation for the dinner, including Michaele's hair being done at a salon and her dress being properly styled, before getting into a limo and proceeding to the White House with husband Tareq. Cameras captured the couple being questioned at the gate by a person with a clipboard, who instructed them to proceed to the next gate when they could not verify them on her list. Sky News reported: "The Salahis hope to build a public profile
in the US after appearing in the filming for the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C., though their contribution was never aired."The series began airing on Bravo in August 2010.
event.
Michaele Salahi spent seven hours in the Erwin Gomez Salon in Georgetown to prepare for the November 24, 2009, state dinner, with a film crew from The Real Housewives accompanying her. In contrast to the more sedate black or navy blue evening gowns worn by most female guests, Michaele wore a gold-embroidered red ensemble, to which the press widely referred as a sari
(more precisely, a lehenga-style sari
and choli). Michaele was recorded on film saying that she had conferred with Rogers as to whether wearing this attire would be appropriate, and that "they thought the sari was a great idea." Aparajita Mukherjee of the Times of India later implied that Michaele probably bought the ensemble in the Janpath
market of New Delhi
during a July 2009 visit to invite the Indian polo team to participate in the 2010 America's Polo Cup
. Michaele Salahi also wore expensive David Yurman
jewelry to the event; reportedly, a Washington-area store lent her the bracelets and rings, in total worth $30,000, and needed three attempts to retrieve them. In February 2010, Michaele told an Australian television interviewer her attire would be auctioned to raise funds for Haitian earthquake
relief, and it was auctioned off for $7,000.
in honor of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
despite allegedly lacking an invitation, although their camera crew was unable to follow them. The Salahis passed through two security checkpoints, one of which checked them for photo ID. Robin Givhan
of the Washington Post surmised that the Salahis were allowed to enter because they "looked the part" and, in her words, stepped through a "cultural blind spot." The Washington Post also quoted an anonymous official as having said that "the Salahis were allowed inside in violation of agency policies by an officer outside the front gate who apparently was persuaded by the couple's manner and insistence as well as the pressure of keeping lines moving on a rainy evening." The White House social secretary, Desirée Rogers
, later told media that a member of her staff was at the main entrance to handle arriving guests not on the guest list, but that the Secret Service did not alert her staff to either the Salahis or Carlos Allen. The New York Times subsequently reported that Rogers had posted an employee of her office only at the East Portico checkpoint, but not at the first, "outer" checkpoint, a departure from past practice.
The Washington Posts Roxanne Roberts
recognized the Salahis and subsequently wrote,
Roberts' suspicions were apparently not acted upon; according to media reports, "the first the White House security detail knew of their blunder in allowing [the Salahis] into Tuesday's event was when the couple posted photographs from the dinner on their Facebook page." The White House on November 27 released its own photos of the couple posing with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden
, and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
.
Invited guest Brian Williams
, anchor of the NBC Nightly News
, observed the Salahis' SUV being turned down from the East Gate entrance of the White House that evening, after which the Salahis and crew left their vehicle and walked toward the White House.
After returning from the White House, the Salahis posted their photos from the dinner on Michaele's Facebook
page. This led to the discovery that the Salahis were not on the list of invited guests for the dinner, and should not have been admitted. Subsequent reports and reviews of videotape revealed Mr. Allen as a third gatecrasher on that evening.
, special assistant to the Secretary of Defense and the Pentagon
-based liaison to the White House; Jones specifically told the Salahis not to come because she had no authority to grant admittance. That morning, the Salahis appeared on the Today show on NBC
, interviewed by Matt Lauer
. When Lauer asked the couple whether they were invited to the dinner, Michaele stated, "...we were invited, not crashers and there isn't anyone that would have the audacity or the poor behavior to do that", and Tareq asserted that the Gardner Law Group invited them. Michaele also claimed victimization: "Everything we worked for, Matt -- for me 44 years just destroyed." The Salahis also asserted that they had received no payment in return for granting the interview.
Tareq and Michaele Salahi were requested by the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee to appear at a hearing on December 3, 2009, but they refused to attend. In the wake of the Salahis' refusal to testify, Representative Bennie Thompson
, Democrat of Mississippi and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, defeated Republican efforts to subpoena White House social secretary Desirée Rogers and to hold the Secret Service officially responsible for the Salahis' unauthorized entry. He also formally began a process to subpoena
the Salahis. On December 9, 2009, the Committee on Homeland Security voted 26 to 3 to subpoena Tareq Salahi, and 27 to 2 to subpoena Michaele, for a hearing on the alleged gatecrash scheduled for January 20, 2010.
The Salahis' attorney advised that the Salahis would invoke the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
, however, and in fact they did so at the hearing, declining to answer questions 32 times. Curiously, despite this invocation of the Fifth Amendment, Tareq Salahi had also informed the Las Vegas Sun
that he and his wife "want the story of The White House cover-up about their invitation to be told." Tareq also told the Loudoun Times-Mirror prior to the hearings, "It will truly be a historic moment...Not since the 1950s has Congress held hearings of such a historic nature." However, the Salahis' attorney, Stephen Best, described the Congressional inquest as "not a hearing looking for information. This was an opportunity for a public flogging."
White House Principal Deputy Counsel Daniel J. Meltzer stated in a December 23, 2009, letter to the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security,
On January 8, 2010, media reported that a federal grand jury
had been convened to investigate the apparent security breach by the Salahis. Erwin Gomez and Peggy Ioakim of the Erwin Gomez Salon and Spa were subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Politico
reported that the subpoena does not mention the Salahis, but "says that the grand jury is investigating a possible violation of 18 USC 1001, a federal statute that covers lying to a government official." In addition, White House Usher Rear Admiral Stephen Rochon
testified voluntarily to the grand jury, the first White House official to do so.
In an interview by Robin Roberts
on ABC
's Good Morning America
television program broadcast January 10, 2010, Carlos Allen's attorney called Allen a "cooperating witness" and stated that Allen is not a subject of the grand jury investigation.
After the gatecrashing event became widely known, the Secret Service, Bravo (the cable channel) and the Salahis were all criticized for their lapses in protocol.
, part of the Times of India media group,
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan
issued a statement on November 27 saying that the Secret Service
was "deeply concerned and embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding the State Dinner". Sullivan's statement also pointed out that "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." Newsweek
further reported, "The White House staff member whose job was to supervise the guest list for state dinners and clear invitees into the events says she was stripped of most of her responsibilities earlier this year, prompting her to resign last June." Fox News conducted a public opinion poll that showed the incident damaged public confidence in the Secret Service, though more respondents blamed the White House staff for the alleged breach than blamed the Secret Service.
Representative Peter T. King
, Republican of New York, wrote a letter to the House Committee on Homeland Security requesting an investigation into this incident. The Secret Service is also considering criminal charges against the Salahis.
Secret Service Director Sullivan put three identified employees on administrative leave. Sullivan testified at the December 3 hearing that the White House and Secret Service collaboratively planned security protocols for the state dinner.
In a televised interview on the CBS
program 60 Minutes
that aired December 13, 2009, President Obama termed the gatecrash a "screw-up", expressed anger that it had taken place, and vowed that such incidents would not occur again.
The incident also resulted in criticism of the White House for an alleged lack of transparency, due to the Administration's unwillingness to allow the White House social secretary to testify before Congress.
Security was tightened both at the White House and at outside events involving the President, with one commentator referring to the new White House security regime as "so tight it operated like a beast on steroids." Congressman Louie Gohmert
(R-Texas) complained in March 2010 about members of Congress having to walk a block in the rain to enter the White House:
At the state of the union address in the Capitol January 27, 2010, security was reportedly more stringent than before, with multiple checks of identification. An anonymous U.S. Senate official was quoted in the New York Times as saying,
] in.
Security was also tightened for the May 19, 2010, state dinner in honor of Mexican President Felipe Calderón
, to the extent that the wife of the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs was turned away for lack of proper identification.
and other state officials. Multiple sponsors withdrew support from the Salahis' "America's Polo Cup
" event, although those withdrawals were not always acknowledged in the event's publicity materials.
By the end of December 2009, the Washington Post alone had assigned more than a dozen reporters to investigate them. By the end of June 2010, according to the Washington Posts ombudsman
, the paper had extended its coverage of the couple to a new total of 110 articles by more than thirty reporters and contributors, ascribing its readers' interest to "the unique audaciousness and astonishing self-absorption of the Salahis." Tareq Salahi remarked in an interview that the White House should apologize for ruining his reputation and for the way he has been treated by the public and members of the media.
/Gallup Poll conducted December 11–13, 2009 of 1,025 adults in the United States, revealed that 70% of respondents considered the Salahis "losers" politically as a result of their alleged White House breach, versus 16% who considered them "winners". Of the 13 choices offered in the poll, the Salahis yielded the lowest score.
At a January 20, 2010, congressional hearing on the alleged gatecrash, the Salahis were subjected to what the Washington Post called a "blistering bipartisan tongue-lashing."
, a columnist for Newsday
, called the Salahis "low-class, high-gloss wannabes", and said the matter amounted to "a new low" for reality television and the depths people will resort to for fame. The New York Daily News
criticized Bravo for "settling for[the] bottom of [the] social ladder" in its casting policy for the Real Housewives program.
The New York Times characterized the gatecrash as a gross breach of social protocol
in the nation's capital, thus:
However, Maureen Dowd
, a New York Times columnist, used the incident to cast aspersions on Washington society, writing,
, titled "Crashers
", was partially inspired by the incident.
The Salahi surname has entered the language as a synonym
of "to gatecrash
".
The phrase "Salahi route" has additionally been used to refer to refusal to pay for services rendered or goods delivered, as in
In the opening segment of the December 5, 2009, episode of Saturday Night Live
, Tareq was portrayed by Bobby Moynihan
and Michaele by Kristen Wiig
as interlopers who got on stage at a Barack Obama
speech in Allentown
, Pennsylvania
, and posed for various pictures behind the President with Secret Service
special agents and Vice-President Joe Biden
. At one point in the skit they ask the President to stop his speech and snap a group shot of all of them.
The monologue of The Late Show With David Letterman
has brought up the Salahis as parody. NBC
's Washington, D.C., affiliate posted on its website parody photographs of well-known American events into which images of the Salahis had been edited.
TV Squad listed this incident as one of the top four "reality scandals" of 2009. The Huffington Post ranked the incident fourth on its list of "Rubbernecking's Top Ten Pop Culture Moments of 2009". Addicting Games, a subsidiary of MTV
Networks, created an online computer game, White House Party Crashers, in which the gamer is challenged, "Use your most devious skills to get past White House security."
Political satirist Dave Barry
included the following mention of the incident in his wrapup of major "lowlights" of 2009:
The Washington Post's "Reliable Source" gossip column
chose Tareq and Michaele Salahi as its Persons of the Year for 2009, saying,
Tareq Salahi
Tareq Dirgham Salahi is a former American vintner and former public official. He and his wife, Michaele, gained national attention in November 2009 by allegedly crashing a White House state dinner in honor of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...
( and ˈtɑrɛk sɑːˈlɑːhiː), a married couple from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and Carlos Allen (from the District of Columbia), attended a White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
state dinner for India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...
, allegedly without being invited guests. The Salahis and Allen arrived separately and did not appear to have colluded in their efforts. They were able to pass through two security checkpoints (including one requiring positive photo identification
Photo identification
Photo identification is generally used to define any form of identity document that includes a photograph of the holder.Some countries use a government issued card as a proof of age or citizenship.Types of photo ID cards include:*Passports...
), enter the White House complex, and meet President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. Fallout from the incident included an array of security investigations, legal inquiries, and sensationalistic
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers...
reporting.
Motivation
At the time of the incident, Michaele Salahi was being filmed for Bravo's The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.
The Real Housewives of D.C. is an American reality television program that debuted on the Bravo network Thursday, August 5, 2010. It was the network's fifth installation of The Real Housewives of... series, following The Real Housewives of Orange County, New York City, Atlanta, and New Jersey.Bravo...
Camera crews for the show filmed the Salahis' preparation for the dinner, including Michaele's hair being done at a salon and her dress being properly styled, before getting into a limo and proceeding to the White House with husband Tareq. Cameras captured the couple being questioned at the gate by a person with a clipboard, who instructed them to proceed to the next gate when they could not verify them on her list. Sky News reported: "The Salahis hope to build a public profile
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
in the US after appearing in the filming for the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C., though their contribution was never aired."The series began airing on Bravo in August 2010.
Preparation
Tim Burke, director of the gatecrashing reality show MTV Blaggers!, said that Tareq Salahi contacted him about a week before the White House incident for advice on tricking one's way into a black-tieBlack tie
Black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions. For a man, the main component is a usually black jacket, known as a dinner jacket or tuxedo...
event.
Michaele Salahi spent seven hours in the Erwin Gomez Salon in Georgetown to prepare for the November 24, 2009, state dinner, with a film crew from The Real Housewives accompanying her. In contrast to the more sedate black or navy blue evening gowns worn by most female guests, Michaele wore a gold-embroidered red ensemble, to which the press widely referred as a sari
Sari
A sari or sareeThe name of the garment in various regional languages include: , , , , , , , , , , , , , is a strip of unstitched cloth, worn by females, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. It is popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal,...
(more precisely, a lehenga-style sari
Lehenga Style Saree
Lehenga style Saree is a new trend of Saree introduced in India. This is an aesthetic blend of the traditional Saree and a Lehenga choli. Lehenga style saree is normally 4.5 meters to 5.5 meters long...
and choli). Michaele was recorded on film saying that she had conferred with Rogers as to whether wearing this attire would be appropriate, and that "they thought the sari was a great idea." Aparajita Mukherjee of the Times of India later implied that Michaele probably bought the ensemble in the Janpath
Janpath
Janpath , translated the "People's Path", is one of the main roads in New Delhi. It starts out as Radial Road 1 in Connaught Place, adjacent to Palika Bazaar, and runs North-South perpendicular to, and past Rajpath...
market of New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
during a July 2009 visit to invite the Indian polo team to participate in the 2010 America's Polo Cup
America's Polo Cup
The America's Polo Cup was a polo event held annually in the United States of America from 2007 to 2010, but was declared banrkupt on September 13, 2010. The event was organized by Tareq and Michaele Salahi, with varying degrees of support from sponsors. Because the match was unsanctioned by the...
. Michaele Salahi also wore expensive David Yurman
David Yurman
David Yurman Inc. is a privately held high-end American designer jewelry company founded by David Yurman . It is headquartered in New York City....
jewelry to the event; reportedly, a Washington-area store lent her the bracelets and rings, in total worth $30,000, and needed three attempts to retrieve them. In February 2010, Michaele told an Australian television interviewer her attire would be auctioned to raise funds for Haitian earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
relief, and it was auctioned off for $7,000.
Breach and attendance
Tareq and Michaele Salahi entered the state dinnerState dinner
A state dinner is a dinner or banquet paid by a government and hosted by a head of state in his or her official residence in order to renew and celebrate diplomatic ties between the host country and the country of a foreign head of state or head of government who was issued an invitation. In many...
in honor of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...
despite allegedly lacking an invitation, although their camera crew was unable to follow them. The Salahis passed through two security checkpoints, one of which checked them for photo ID. Robin Givhan
Robin Givhan
Robin Givhan is the former fashion editor for The Washington Post. She left The Washington Post in 2010 and is now the fashion critic and fashion correspondent for The Daily Beast and Newsweek. She won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for criticism, the first such time for a fashion writer...
of the Washington Post surmised that the Salahis were allowed to enter because they "looked the part" and, in her words, stepped through a "cultural blind spot." The Washington Post also quoted an anonymous official as having said that "the Salahis were allowed inside in violation of agency policies by an officer outside the front gate who apparently was persuaded by the couple's manner and insistence as well as the pressure of keeping lines moving on a rainy evening." The White House social secretary, Desirée Rogers
Desirée Rogers
Desirée Glapion Rogers is an American business executive who is the Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Publishing Company. In November 2008 she was selected by Barack Obama's office as the White House Social Secretary for the incoming administration, the first person of African American descent...
, later told media that a member of her staff was at the main entrance to handle arriving guests not on the guest list, but that the Secret Service did not alert her staff to either the Salahis or Carlos Allen. The New York Times subsequently reported that Rogers had posted an employee of her office only at the East Portico checkpoint, but not at the first, "outer" checkpoint, a departure from past practice.
The Washington Posts Roxanne Roberts
Roxanne Roberts
Roxanne M. Roberts is a style writer for the Washington Post. She shares "The Reliable Source" column with Amy Argetsinger. She is a regular panelist on the NPR quiz show Wait Wait.....
recognized the Salahis and subsequently wrote,
The minute I realized they were not on the list, I asked a White House staffer to verify their names and explain why they were not on the list. I told the same thing to another staffer a few minutes later. This was before the Salahis went through the receivingReceptionReception is a noun form of receiving, or to receive something, such as information, art, experience, or people. It is often used in the following contexts:...
with the president, and they could have been pulled aside and quietly questioned.
Roberts' suspicions were apparently not acted upon; according to media reports, "the first the White House security detail knew of their blunder in allowing [the Salahis] into Tuesday's event was when the couple posted photographs from the dinner on their Facebook page." The White House on November 27 released its own photos of the couple posing with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
, and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
.
Invited guest Brian Williams
Brian Williams
Brian Douglas Williams is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network, a position he assumed in 2004...
, anchor of the NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
, observed the Salahis' SUV being turned down from the East Gate entrance of the White House that evening, after which the Salahis and crew left their vehicle and walked toward the White House.
After returning from the White House, the Salahis posted their photos from the dinner on Michaele's Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page. This led to the discovery that the Salahis were not on the list of invited guests for the dinner, and should not have been admitted. Subsequent reports and reviews of videotape revealed Mr. Allen as a third gatecrasher on that evening.
Formal investigation
On December 1, 2009, The Washington Post reported that the Secret Service found e-mail exchanges between the Salahis and Michele S. JonesMichele S. Jones
Michele S. Jones was the first woman in the United States Army Reserve to reach the position of command sergeant major of the U.S. Army Reserve. She was the first female non-commissioned officer to serve in the highest enlisted position of a component of the U.S...
, special assistant to the Secretary of Defense and the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
-based liaison to the White House; Jones specifically told the Salahis not to come because she had no authority to grant admittance. That morning, the Salahis appeared on the Today show on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, interviewed by Matt Lauer
Matt Lauer
Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer . is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997. He was previously a news anchor in New York and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond...
. When Lauer asked the couple whether they were invited to the dinner, Michaele stated, "...we were invited, not crashers and there isn't anyone that would have the audacity or the poor behavior to do that", and Tareq asserted that the Gardner Law Group invited them. Michaele also claimed victimization: "Everything we worked for, Matt -- for me 44 years just destroyed." The Salahis also asserted that they had received no payment in return for granting the interview.
Tareq and Michaele Salahi were requested by the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee to appear at a hearing on December 3, 2009, but they refused to attend. In the wake of the Salahis' refusal to testify, Representative Bennie Thompson
Bennie Thompson
Bennie G. Thompson, is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993, and the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security since 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
, Democrat of Mississippi and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, defeated Republican efforts to subpoena White House social secretary Desirée Rogers and to hold the Secret Service officially responsible for the Salahis' unauthorized entry. He also formally began a process to subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
the Salahis. On December 9, 2009, the Committee on Homeland Security voted 26 to 3 to subpoena Tareq Salahi, and 27 to 2 to subpoena Michaele, for a hearing on the alleged gatecrash scheduled for January 20, 2010.
The Salahis' attorney advised that the Salahis would invoke the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
, however, and in fact they did so at the hearing, declining to answer questions 32 times. Curiously, despite this invocation of the Fifth Amendment, Tareq Salahi had also informed the Las Vegas Sun
Las Vegas Sun
The Las Vegas Sun is a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper. It is one of Las Vegas, Nevada's two daily newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group....
that he and his wife "want the story of The White House cover-up about their invitation to be told." Tareq also told the Loudoun Times-Mirror prior to the hearings, "It will truly be a historic moment...Not since the 1950s has Congress held hearings of such a historic nature." However, the Salahis' attorney, Stephen Best, described the Congressional inquest as "not a hearing looking for information. This was an opportunity for a public flogging."
White House Principal Deputy Counsel Daniel J. Meltzer stated in a December 23, 2009, letter to the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security,
We have found no evidence the Salahis were included on any White House access list or guest list. The Salahis were not on the lists for the State Dinner, the Arrival Ceremony, or any other event scheduled for November 24. Indeed there is no record of the Salahis in the White House visitor access system since the beginning of the Obama Administration. Moreover, we have found no evidence that the Salahis called the White House and asked about the proper dress code for the State Dinner.
On January 8, 2010, media reported that a federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
had been convened to investigate the apparent security breach by the Salahis. Erwin Gomez and Peggy Ioakim of the Erwin Gomez Salon and Spa were subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Politico
The Politico
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
reported that the subpoena does not mention the Salahis, but "says that the grand jury is investigating a possible violation of 18 USC 1001, a federal statute that covers lying to a government official." In addition, White House Usher Rear Admiral Stephen Rochon
Stephen W. Rochon
Rear Admiral Stephen W. Rochon is the former Director of the Executive Residence and White House Chief Usher. Admiral Rochon served his last day on active duty with the Coast Guard on March 9, 2007, and began his service at the White House on March 12. Admiral Rochon succeeds Gary J. Walters, who...
testified voluntarily to the grand jury, the first White House official to do so.
In an interview by Robin Roberts
Robin Roberts (newscaster)
Robin René Roberts is an American television broadcaster. Roberts is the co-anchor of ABC's morning show Good Morning America-Early life:...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
television program broadcast January 10, 2010, Carlos Allen's attorney called Allen a "cooperating witness" and stated that Allen is not a subject of the grand jury investigation.
After the gatecrashing event became widely known, the Secret Service, Bravo (the cable channel) and the Salahis were all criticized for their lapses in protocol.
Salahi incident
Indian security officials expressed shock at the apparent breach of security. An anonymous Indian official told the The Economic TimesThe Economic Times
The Economic Times is an English-language Indian daily newspaper published by the Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.. The Economic Times was started in 1961. It is the most popular and widely read financial daily in India, read by more than 8 lakh people...
, part of the Times of India media group,
We are glad that it happened in the US. If such a security breach had happened out here in Hyderabad HouseHyderabad HouseHyderabad House earlier known as Palace of the Nizam of Hyderabad is a former princely residence of Osman Ali Khan, Nizam VII located at New Delhi. This house was built in 1926 by eminent architect Edwin Lutyens. It was the Delhi palace for the last Nizam of Hyderabad state.It is currently used...
, or even Vigyan BhavanVigyan BhavanVigyan Bhavan is a premier convention centre of Government of India in New Delhi. Built in 1956, over the years it has been the venue of conferences of national and international stature, seminars and award ceremonies attended by distinguished world leaders and dignitaries, including Commonwealth...
, we would have never heard the end of it and heads would have rolled. How such a breach in the most important official residence in the world happened is something all of us are very keen to know.
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan
Mark J. Sullivan
Mark J. Sullivan is the current Director of the United States Secret Service. Sullivan succeeded W. Ralph Basham and was sworn in as the 22nd Director of the Secret Service on May 31, 2006.-Early life:...
issued a statement on November 27 saying that the Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
was "deeply concerned and embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding the State Dinner". Sullivan's statement also pointed out that "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." Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
further reported, "The White House staff member whose job was to supervise the guest list for state dinners and clear invitees into the events says she was stripped of most of her responsibilities earlier this year, prompting her to resign last June." Fox News conducted a public opinion poll that showed the incident damaged public confidence in the Secret Service, though more respondents blamed the White House staff for the alleged breach than blamed the Secret Service.
Representative Peter T. King
Peter T. King
Peter T. "Pete" King is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party. King's central Long Island district includes parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties....
, Republican of New York, wrote a letter to the House Committee on Homeland Security requesting an investigation into this incident. The Secret Service is also considering criminal charges against the Salahis.
Secret Service Director Sullivan put three identified employees on administrative leave. Sullivan testified at the December 3 hearing that the White House and Secret Service collaboratively planned security protocols for the state dinner.
In a televised interview on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
program 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
that aired December 13, 2009, President Obama termed the gatecrash a "screw-up", expressed anger that it had taken place, and vowed that such incidents would not occur again.
The incident also resulted in criticism of the White House for an alleged lack of transparency, due to the Administration's unwillingness to allow the White House social secretary to testify before Congress.
Security was tightened both at the White House and at outside events involving the President, with one commentator referring to the new White House security regime as "so tight it operated like a beast on steroids." Congressman Louie Gohmert
Louie Gohmert
Louis Buller Gohmert, Jr. is an American politician and current Republican U.S. Representative from Texas's 1st congressional district.-Life and career:...
(R-Texas) complained in March 2010 about members of Congress having to walk a block in the rain to enter the White House:
The member of Congress, like today in the rain, has to go down a block and then go through security there with double the number of guards and then come up and go through security again and go through guards again...not because Secret Service messed up or the armed guards that are now doubled in number, but because somebody in the White House staff screwed up...Now they’re deciding to punish members of Congress and law-abiding citizens that normally just get in.
At the state of the union address in the Capitol January 27, 2010, security was reportedly more stringent than before, with multiple checks of identification. An anonymous U.S. Senate official was quoted in the New York Times as saying,
Nobody, the Secret Service, the Capitol Police, wants another one of those...They don’t want some chucklehead out on the House floor with a camera, then putting it on YouTube that he snuck [sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
] in.
Security was also tightened for the May 19, 2010, state dinner in honor of Mexican President Felipe Calderón
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
, to the extent that the wife of the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs was turned away for lack of proper identification.
Repercussions for the Salahis
The widely publicized incident created a huge wave of interest in the personal lives and business dealings of Tareq and Michaele Salahi. Within days, their family winery was deluged with angry phone calls condemning their actions. Within a week of the incident, Tareq Salahi resigned from the Virginia Tourism Board by the request of Governor Tim KaineTim Kaine
Timothy Michael "Tim" Kaine is a Virginia politician. Kaine served as the 70th Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011...
and other state officials. Multiple sponsors withdrew support from the Salahis' "America's Polo Cup
America's Polo Cup
The America's Polo Cup was a polo event held annually in the United States of America from 2007 to 2010, but was declared banrkupt on September 13, 2010. The event was organized by Tareq and Michaele Salahi, with varying degrees of support from sponsors. Because the match was unsanctioned by the...
" event, although those withdrawals were not always acknowledged in the event's publicity materials.
By the end of December 2009, the Washington Post alone had assigned more than a dozen reporters to investigate them. By the end of June 2010, according to the Washington Posts ombudsman
Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
, the paper had extended its coverage of the couple to a new total of 110 articles by more than thirty reporters and contributors, ascribing its readers' interest to "the unique audaciousness and astonishing self-absorption of the Salahis." Tareq Salahi remarked in an interview that the White House should apologize for ruining his reputation and for the way he has been treated by the public and members of the media.
Loss of prestige
A USA TodayUSA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
/Gallup Poll conducted December 11–13, 2009 of 1,025 adults in the United States, revealed that 70% of respondents considered the Salahis "losers" politically as a result of their alleged White House breach, versus 16% who considered them "winners". Of the 13 choices offered in the poll, the Salahis yielded the lowest score.
At a January 20, 2010, congressional hearing on the alleged gatecrash, the Salahis were subjected to what the Washington Post called a "blistering bipartisan tongue-lashing."
Social criticism
Ellis HenicanEllis Henican
Ellis Henican is a columnist at Newsday and AM New York as well as a political analyst on the Fox News Channel. He hosts a nationally syndicated weekend show on Talk Radio Network, is author of a New York Times Bestseller, and is the voice of "Stormy" on the hit Cartoon Network series Sealab...
, a columnist for Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, called the Salahis "low-class, high-gloss wannabes", and said the matter amounted to "a new low" for reality television and the depths people will resort to for fame. The New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
criticized Bravo for "settling for
The New York Times characterized the gatecrash as a gross breach of social protocol
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
in the nation's capital, thus:
...when Ms. Salahi strutted onto the South Lawn in that bright red lehenga, she and her husband breached far more than a secure perimeter.
They also trampled countless protocols that are the social, business and networking bedrock of official Washington. Essentially, the couple used the mixed martial arts approach to upward mobility in a town that still cherishes the Marquess of Queensberry rulesMarquess of Queensberry rulesThe Marquess of Queensberry rules is a code of generally accepted rules in the sport of boxing. They were named so because John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry publicly endorsed the code, although they were written by a sportsman named John Graham Chambers. The code of rules on which modern...
.
However, Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd
Maureen Bridgid Dowd is a Washington D.C.-based columnist for The New York Times and best-selling author. During the 1970s and the early 1980s, she worked for Time magazine and the Washington Star, where she covered news as well as sports and wrote feature articles...
, a New York Times columnist, used the incident to cast aspersions on Washington society, writing,
...even the outrage over the fakers is fake. The capital has turned up its nose at the tacky trompe l’oeil Virginia horse-country socialites: a faux Redskins cheerleader and a faux successful businessman auditioning for a “reality” show by feigning a White House invitation...Yet Washington has always been a town full of poseurs, arrivistes, fame-seekers, cheaters and camera hogs.
Cultural references
The season 20 episode of Law & OrderLaw & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
, titled "Crashers
Crashers (Law & Order)
"Crashers" is the nineteenth episode of the twentieth season of NBC's long-running legal drama Law & Order.-Plot:When the body of a young model , is found burning in an alley, Detectives Lupo and Bernard search for her killer. With no witnesses, the detectives must retrace the victim's last steps...
", was partially inspired by the incident.
The Salahi surname has entered the language as a synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
of "to gatecrash
Gate-crashing
Gate-crashing, gatecrashing or party crashing is the act of attending an invite-only event without invitationThe person doing the gate-crashing is known as a gate-crasher...
".
The phrase "Salahi route" has additionally been used to refer to refusal to pay for services rendered or goods delivered, as in
Some go the Salahi route, stiffing working folks on their bills (tradesmen, lawyers, beauty salon operators, purveyors of services), crashing parties.
In the opening segment of the December 5, 2009, episode of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, Tareq was portrayed by Bobby Moynihan
Bobby Moynihan
Robert M. "Bobby" Moynihan, Jr. is an American actor and comedian who is currently a cast member on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:...
and Michaele by Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Carroll Wiig is an American film and television actress who currently appears as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Wiig was a member of improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings, and has appeared in several films and television series, including Bridesmaids, MacGruber, Flight of...
as interlopers who got on stage at a Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
speech in Allentown
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and posed for various pictures behind the President with Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
special agents and Vice-President Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
. At one point in the skit they ask the President to stop his speech and snap a group shot of all of them.
The monologue of The Late Show With David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
has brought up the Salahis as parody. NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Washington, D.C., affiliate posted on its website parody photographs of well-known American events into which images of the Salahis had been edited.
TV Squad listed this incident as one of the top four "reality scandals" of 2009. The Huffington Post ranked the incident fourth on its list of "Rubbernecking's Top Ten Pop Culture Moments of 2009". Addicting Games, a subsidiary of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Networks, created an online computer game, White House Party Crashers, in which the gamer is challenged, "Use your most devious skills to get past White House security."
Political satirist Dave Barry
Dave Barry
David "Dave" Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.-Biography:Barry was born in Armonk, New York,...
included the following mention of the incident in his wrapup of major "lowlights" of 2009:
... a Washington couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, penetrate heavy security and enter the White House, a feat that Joe Biden has yet to manage. As details of the incident emerge, an embarrassed Secret Service is forced to admit that not only did the couple crash a state dinner, but they also met and shook hands with the president, and they "may have served briefly in the Cabinet."
The Washington Post's "Reliable Source" gossip column
Gossip columnist
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities from show business ,...
chose Tareq and Michaele Salahi as its Persons of the Year for 2009, saying,
...the Salahis took what could have been an enjoyably seedy little horse-country melodrama and catapulted it into the gossip stratosphere with one fateful night at the White House that exposed the dark secrets of our decade's major growth industries: national security and reality television.
See also
- White House intrudersWhite House intrudersThe White House is the official residence and office space of the President of the United States. Extensive security measures are used to protect the White House, primarily through the United States Secret Service....
- Michael Fagan incidentMichael Fagan incidentMichael Fagan was an intruder who broke into Buckingham Palace and entered Elizabeth II's bedchamber in the early hours of 9 July 1982. The unemployed father of four children managed to evade electronic alarms as well as both palace and police guards....
- 15 minutes of fame15 minutes of fame15 minutes of fame is short-lived, often ephemeral, media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon. The expression was coined by Andy Warhol, who said in 1968 that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." The phenomenon is often used in reference to...
Salahis' Facebook page related to the incident
Multimedia
- Salahis appear before Congress, say little (Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
video, January 20, 2010) - Salahi Stylist Testifies in Court (CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
video, January 12, 2010) - Third White House 'Crasher' Speaks Out (Good Morning America show, ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
video, January 10, 2010) - Television interview of Salahis by Matt Lauer (Today show, NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
video, December 1, 2009) - White House Security Breach (ABC News, ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
video, November 26, 2009) - White House Party Crashers (photo slideshow by The Huffington PostThe Huffington PostThe Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
) - Secret Service admits 'Mistake was made' on Salahis (Washington Post video)
- The Party Crashers (Washington Post photo gallery)
- Tareq & Michaele Salahi wedding (video)
- Review of court records (Washington Post graphic)
- At focus: The Salahis (Washington Post photo gallery of "highlights of the lives and careers of Tareq and Michaele Salahi")
- Mystery of 3rd White House Crasher Revealed (video by the Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
)
Oasis Winery websites
Government websites
- Official Guest List for White House State Dinner (White House website)
- Virginia Courts Case Information (searchable on-line database)
- Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services press release, "STATE WARNS PUBLIC ABOUT CHARITABLE SOLICITATION BY JOURNEY FOR THE CURE FOUNDATION", May 13, 2009