Katy will be so embarrassed. /s
Posted on 11/26/2009 10:53:49 PM PST by mockingbyrd
WASHINGTON -- The couple who crashed a White House state dinner were being filmed that day by a camera crew connected with a reality television program, although none of the filming took place on White House grounds, a spokeswoman for the program's network said Thursday.
The couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, gained access to the dinner President Barack Obama hosted for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, although they had not been invited, prompting a security review by the Secret Service, which acknowledged that procedures were not followed properly.
Bravo Media confirmed late Thursday that Michaele Salahi is being considered as a participant in the upcoming "The Real Housewives of D.C." program and on the day of the dinner was being filmed around Washington by Half Yard Productions, the producer of the program.
"Half Yard's cameras were not inside the White House. They filmed the couple preparing for the event," Johanna Fuentes, vice president, communications, for Bravo Media, said in an e-mail. She said the Salahis "informed Half Yard that they were invited, the producers had no reason to believe otherwise."
Fuentes referred further questions to the couple's attorney and publicist.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“Their counsel, Paul W. Gardner Esq., states emphatically that the Salahis’ did not ‘crash’ this event,” the statement read. “We look forward to setting the record straight very soon.”
Katy will be so embarrassed. /s
CNN said the two would be guests on Larry King’s talk show on Monday night.
Michaele Salahi, in red, chats with fellow cast members at Oasis Winery in Hume, VA Saturday prior to a taping of the upcoming Real Housewives of DC.
The Sherando Times has learned that Michaele and Tareq Salahi of Oasis Winery in Hume, VA are slated to star in the upcoming Real Housewives of DC, the latest installment of a reality series that has developed a cult following on the NBC Universal-owned Bravo cable network.
The entire cast of housewives assembled at Oasis Saturday for a taping complete with security and a large crew.
Participants are tight-lipped about the show. One producer referred to “whatever show may or may not be being taped here.”
Tension was high for a period as Tareq and his mother, Corinne Salahi, had disagreed over whether the crew had the right to be present on the property. The two have been in a long-running dispute over control of the award winning winery that has since fallen into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office was called during a taping visit the previous weekend.
Of primary concern is how this pair of Chester Cheetah-level socialites managed to brazenly blow their way past the Secret Service and into the White House for the ultra-exclusive State Dinner in the first place. My expert opinion? They didn’t.
In September, the Salahis were spotted being trailed by a Bravo film crew, and Michaele Salahi’s makeup artist reported seeing a TV crew filming them as they prepared to crash the state dinner. Though Bravo declined to make a statement yesterday (even to NBC News, part of its corporate family!), today Bravo reluctantly confirmed that a “Real Housewives” camera crew was ineed with the Salahis as they crashed their way to the most exclusive ticket in town. They’ve got a flair for the dramatic, as their cheese-tastic wedding video shows.Yes, they’re throwing doves.
NBC’s Brian Williams also says he saw the couple’s SUV turned away at the East Gate, at which point they got, camera and makeup people in tow, and went to the pedestrian entrance. (video below)
I spoke with Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan this morning, and he would only offer that they had identified a checkpoint at which proper procedures were not followed, and that the incident would be investigated. He stressed that, no matter which checkpoint was the problem, “It’s on us.” He stressed, again, that the Salahis had been subjected to the same stringent physical checks (magnometer, x-rays, etc.) as the other guests.
A White House official tells me that the White House has called for a “full review of the incident” by Secret service.
The Secret Service isn’t saying which checkpoint was the problem, nor will they confirm or deny whether the Salahis were already on the grounds when the misstep occurred. This is an important distinction. Once you’re inside the White House gates, it becomes significantly easier to wander into someplace you don’t belong, especially with a crowd. It’s possible that a White House staffer walked them through the gates, perhaps for a legitimate purpose. The Salahis know a lot of people in DC, as their 2,000-person wedding guest list attests.
It would have been a challenge for the Salahis to have slipped past the first checkpoint. First of all, the Secret Service Uniformed Division are extremely, shall we say, detail-oriented. On my first day at the White House, I watched them turn away a very famous person that they see pretty much every day because he wasn’t on the list. He was only admitted when a White House staffer vouched for him.
Since then, I’ve seen countless people hold up the line trying to get in, most of whom really did belong there but weren’t on the list, including me. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your story is, if you’re not on the list, No…Soup…For…You!
Even if you decide that once in a million times, someone could slip through unassisted, what are the odds that it would be this couple, who were planning to slip through? It doesn’t seem possible.
The Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility has been tasked with investigating this incident, but it will be interesting to see how they let this play out publicly. If the Salahis got onto the grounds legitimately, and then snuck into the dinner, it’s embarrassing, sure, but a much less serious security problem.
If, on the other hand, they just managed to talk their way past that first checkpoint, it points up a disturbing vulnerability. Even though they were physically checked, there’s a reason for doing background checks on White House visitors, especially ones who will be sharing dinner with the President.
http://www.mediaite.com/columnists/salahis-party-crashers-white-house-state-dinner/
Gee. Seems just like the Colorado BALLOON BOY story.
Starring Barack Obama as the little boy who is just lying because the adults told him to.
(there are duplicate threads, so iz makin dup lee cat responses.)
>Of primary concern is how this pair of Chester Cheetah-level socialites managed to brazenly blow their way past the Secret Service and into the White House for the ultra-exclusive State Dinner in the first place. My expert opinion? They didn’t.<
“Chester Cheetah-level socialites”
ROFLMBO!
They ought to fit right in.
I call BS.
This is another one of those rigged photo oppy type things.
Same plastic surgeon?
Biden?
Biden? Yes because he gave Biden his web phone number.
Well, I’ve got to eat a bit of crow here. In another thread on FR concerning an article from the UK Daily Mail about the WH dinner party crashers, I wrote the US MSM would ignore the story.
I was wrong. I’ll post some notes in response to an email of mine from a friend in the MSM, who gave me permission to quote:
“ABC and NBC both led their nightly newscasts with the dinner party crashers. CBS didn’t have an evening news due to the late NFL game. However, the CBS affiliate news service fed a number of packages throughout the day to update the story. It was all over the place.
What struck me as interesting was how NBC News flogged a camera crew over to Brian Williams’s house to get his account of things. Obviously, the Desk called him, or he called the Desk. In stark contrast, CBS News apparently didn’t do much to get Katie Couric’s account, even though the link you sent me has her picture with one of the people involved. It’s probably safe to say had Uncle Walter or Gunga Dan been involved, their first reaction would have been to call the assignment desk at CBS News. Apparently, Katie’s reaction is to hide.
Perhaps NBC News has integrity at the top, but not the bottom, while CBS News has integrity at the bottom, but not the top?”
The sad part about this whole mess is that some low-level person simply trying to get along will get nuked from a job for bowing to the pressure placed on him by some rich jerk.
If you’re the USSS guy clearing people at one of these things, and some dude with mondo power says “Admit these people”, one requires a great deal of integrity to say, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that, sir. You have to follow the procedures.”
Any takers?
Leni
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.