Video: Party crashers’ entrance announced at WH state dinner; Update: Took photo with Obama
posted at 6:35 pm on November 27, 2009 by Allahpundit
The most surreal moment from a surreal incident. The breach isn’t quite as dire as it seems — Marc Ambinder notes that sensitive radiological and biological sensors are deployed around the perimeter of the White House to make sure nothing anthrax-y gets in — but it’s true that the only thing standing between an intruder with a makeshift weapon and the VIPs in attendance is the quick reaction of the Secret Service. In this case, that reaction would have needed to be awfully quick: Just within the past hour, the White House admitted that the couple came face to face with The One himself.
The couple’s lawyer insists that they were cleared to be there, but the Service says otherwise and reportedly showed up at their winery today to have a little chat with them. From NBC:
A Secret Service officer stationed at the first checkpoint at the White House state dinner last Tuesday did not verify the names of a couple allowed in even though they were not on the guest list, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News on Friday.
The officer saw that Tareq and Michaele Salahi were not on the list and, rather than verifying if they were legitimate guests, assumed they would be vetted at the next checkpoint and allowed them to pass, NBC learned.
The source also confirmed what two White House staff sources earlier told NBC News, that the Salahis were not “waved in” or had their names manually entered into the White House computer to gain entry.
An amazing lapse, but even more amazing when you consider that a Service checkpoint stationed outside the White House, where guests’ cars pulled up to the entrance, reportedly did notice that they weren’t on the list and turned them away. Apparently, they simply got out of the car and went around to a pedestrian entrance, where the fateful error occurred. As for how they ended up being announced at the dinner, follow that last link: It sounds like, once you’re inside, all you have to do is write your name on a card and hand it to the emcee. Voila. Instant video magic, my friends.
It’s been reported that the winery owes an unspecified amount in federal back taxes (just one of many unpaid debts, allegedly), which may offer a clue as to why the couple was so intent on having their pics taken with Rahm and Biden. Was it pleasure, or business?
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees charitable operations in the commonwealth, issued a consumer warning earlier this year against the “Journey for a Cure Foundation,” of which the Salahis are listed as co-founders, the Fauquier-Times Democrat reported. The state regulatory and watchdog agency reportedly claimed that the foundation was soliciting money from Virginians for “allegedly charitable purposes,” but had failed to follow laws requiring groups soliciting money for charity to register and file necessary paperwork with the department.
The couple’s socialite friends also are starting to question the couple’s motives and actions…
Tareq even used photos of luminaries attending the Courage Cup to market his new America’s Cup [polo] event.
Salahi’s polo connections — and possible financial problems — also might hold the key to why the couple risked the wrath of the Secret Service to stroll brazenly in front of news cameras to rub elbows with nearly 300 hand-picked guests that included members of the Indian diplomatic corps and other special guests with connections to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Salahi’s polo club along with the Embassy of India is hosting a spring 2010 tournament in Virginia. U.S. Ambassador to India Meera Shankar is listed as a patron, according to the organization’s Web site.
Look on the bright side: For once, Geithner wasn’t the only guy inside the White House with a tax problem. Besides, this is going to inspire some sweet movies over the next few years. As a premise for the long-awaited sequel to “The Wedding Crashers,” it simply can’t be topped. Or what about an update of “Air Force One” in which well-dressed terrorists infiltrate a dinner being hosted in honor of the president of China and take everyone hostage, thereby necessitating some serious Die-Hard-esque ass-kicking by the U.S. and Chinese presidents? If you’re looking for another vehicle for Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan to co-star in, you’ve found it.
Update: Obama’s now ordered a full review of how the breach happened.
Update: Actually, I was wrong: This is the most surreal moment. Simply unbelievable. It’s time to clean house at the Secret Service.
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Sweet. How sweet it is.
Finally, Obama’s chikkinzzz are coming home to roost.
petefrt on May 19, 2013 at 8:22 PM
This.
When you have to plead incompetence to defend against charges of malfeasance, you know you might be in trouble.
petefrt on May 19, 2013 at 8:36 PM
ear relevant…
driguana on May 19, 2013 at 8:59 PM
Flush this lying tudd down the drain with the rest of the Obamacrap.
kemojr on May 19, 2013 at 9:34 PM
This was Dan Pfeiffer’s week in the barrel, like Susan Rice he was given the White House talking points and sent on a mission. He really needs to get copies of these tapes and watch them and see how foolish and unbelievable he looked and sounded. The White House is losing the little credibility it still had by sending these shills out every week trying to do damage control. Community organizers make poor leaders.
savage24 on May 19, 2013 at 9:42 PM
Pfeiffer’s statement that the law is irrelevant because the IRS conduct was “outrageous” and “inexcusable”, tells us all we need to know about this administration.
However, the follow-up should have been, “On what standard do you judge their conduct to be outrageous and inexcusable since the law is apparently not an appropriate standard?” (At least in Pfeiffer’s mind.)
What this comes down to is this: “if the Administrative deems something “outrageous” and “inexcusable,” then it is declared such. As we have seen in so many other areas, if the Administrative deems something to not be “outrageous” and “inexcusable,” then it is declared such.
In their mind, the law is – in fact – irrelevant. That’s what makes this situation so dangerous.
It’s not socialism. It’s worse.
EdmundBurke247 on May 19, 2013 at 10:36 PM
Irrelevant = “What Difference Does It Make?”
jaydee_007 on May 19, 2013 at 10:41 PM
A fitting capstone to Ed’s story about loss-prevention (aka employee theft) and management’s “permission structure” in this post.
(Not to mention the jaw-dropping statements of Eleanor Clift in this one.)
AesopFan on May 19, 2013 at 11:40 PM
I enjoy popcorn and hope it is a long week.
Drill and Fill on May 20, 2013 at 12:41 AM
Hey give Barky a break. He had to get his sorry ass out to Vegas.
tbear44 on May 20, 2013 at 4:49 AM
Of course they sent Pfeiffer out to do the Sunday shows. He was the most senior expendable staff member they had . . .
BigAlSouth on May 20, 2013 at 5:39 AM
Pfeiffer… The guy with the red shirt in the landing party…
Boudica on May 20, 2013 at 5:53 AM
Perfect!
lea on May 20, 2013 at 7:11 AM
Does anybody else remember the campaign in 2008 when Obama defended his lack of administrative experience by saying he was just so smart and tuned in that his instincts were better than experience. Someone needs to dredge up these sound bites and play then with the current line about the government being too large to control and that the White House only knows what it reads in the newspaper.
bartbeast on May 20, 2013 at 8:43 AM
If where the president was during the Benghazi crisis is “irrelevant”, then he wasn’t where one would expect the Commander-in-Chief to be. So, where was he? Was he watching a movie in the residence? Was he bowling? Or was he having a bi-curious outing with his good buddy Reggie Love? If Obama was AWOL, as I suspect he was, it is he who is irrelevant. This entire stinkin’ criminal Obama Regime must go and now!
SpiderMike on May 20, 2013 at 9:31 AM
If this continues all week, it will be ‘O’ himself doing the rounds on the Sunday talk shows – except for Fox, of course. (‘O’ can do everything better than everyone else as he has been known to say.)
He then gets the extra benefit that no one will challenge him like they have begun to do with his minions.
Carnac on May 20, 2013 at 11:00 AM
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