DC security!

Couple slips though security to crash state dinner

Not on the guest list: Couple crashes state dinner at White House in spite of heavy security

DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
AP News

Nov 26, 2009 10:13 EST

Michaele and Tareq Salahi like a good party, an attorney who knows them said Thursday, and maybe that's why the couple from Virginia's horse country didn't look out of place at the White House state dinner for the Indian prime minister.


They were all smiles as they rubbed shoulders with Vice President Joe Biden, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and CBS News anchor Katie Couric.
No one suspected the Salahis were a couple of brazen party crashers — and wannabe reality TV stars.
The Secret Service is looking into its security procedures after determining that the Virginia couple managed to slip into Tuesday night's event even though they were not on the guest list, agency spokesman Ed Donovan said.
Paul Morrison, a Virginia attorney who has represented the couple on other matters, told The Associated Press: "I know them. I'm unaware of any reason they need representation right now."
Morrison said he hasn't spoken to the Salahis since the incident but said, "I can't imagine" why they would be in legal trouble.
"They just went to a party. They didn't do anything wrong. I know they enjoy a good party. They're just good people," he said.
President Barack Obama was never in any danger because the Salahis went through the same security screening for weapons as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Donovan said.
Donovan confirmed the identities of the couple. The Washington Post, which first reported on their evening out, said the Salahis were well-known in the Virginia horse-country set and were being considered for the Bravo reality TV show "Real Housewives of D.C."
In an interview with CBS' "Early Show" in September, Michaele Salahi said, "President Obama has made it very accessible for anyone to visit the White House, so that's like a big thing right now." The CBS interview was part of a segment on potential candidates for "Real Housewives of D.C." but never was aired.
The Secret Service learned about the security breach Wednesday after a media inquiry prompted by the Salahis' online boasts about having attended the private event, Donovan said.
One of the many photos from the dinner posted on Michaele Salahi's Facebook page shows the couple with a smiling Biden. In other photos, they appear alone or together with Emanuel, Fenty, Couric, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., and three Marines in their dress blues.
Donovan would not comment on whether the couple had been contacted by the Secret Service, how long they were on the White House grounds or other details of the investigation.
The Post said uninvited guests who got in could face a potential trespassing charge unless someone from inside the White House staff slipped them in.
Donovan would not comment on possible legal violations.
"They'll go through all of this and see what went wrong and fix it," Frances Townsend, who was the White House-based counterterrorism adviser for President George W. Bush, told CNN in an interview broadcast Thursday.
The agency's Office of Professional Responsibility was reviewing what occurred. An initial finding indicated that a checkpoint did not follow proper procedures to ensure the two were on the guest list, Donovan said.
"It's important to note that they went through all the security screenings — the magnetometer screening — just like all the other guests did," Donovan said. And, he added, Obama and others under Secret Service protection had their usual security details with them.

MY QUESTION IS HOW DID OBAMA GET IN?

Joebert wrote:

....


MY QUESTION IS HOW DID OBAMA GET IN?

what The Big "O" ? he heard about us, was highly impressed and registered. I approved & activated his account. But I see he doesn't visit enough, maybe he just wanted to promote his facebook
we should send him a PM to see how his turkey dinner was.

take a look at her Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaele-Salahi/101907941877

errr....Shrine to Herself


over 535 comments on her Party Crash photos .... most want jail time or fines

I say hard community service time as well...at the local soup kitchen or highway clean-up
and a formal letter of apology to the people of United States, especially

c/thru wrote:

take a look at her Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaele-Salahi/101907941877

errr....Shrine to Herself


over 535 comments on her Party Crash photos .... most want jail time or fines

I say hard community service time as well...at the local soup kitchen or highway clean-up
and a formal letter of apology to the people of United States, especially

If I was Singh's wife I'd be highly pissed... the Indian PM & his wife were completely upstaged

I think this is all a riot. I saw more video today and couldn't stop laughing. Really what did they do? Go to a party and they weren't invited! That's it, no gun or weapons. The crime is how did they get in to start with. That's who needs to be talked too. And why did they let Obama stay?

CNN reports the Virginia couple has spent a large amount of time inside civil courtrooms.
“I have a judgment against them… The settlement was for $15,000, plus interest from June 2008.
They haven’t paid a penny,” said Rob Levin.

Levin claims the couple, who appear to own and operate Oasis Winery, charged his credit card
two or three times more than he agreed to pay for the venue to provide vendors for his wedding,
which was taking place at the location.

“There were thousands of dollars charged to my card with no explanation,” said Levin.

According to CNN, Tareq and Michaele were also involved in a lengthy court battle with his parents
over the winery. In addition, public records indicate Tareq sued his mother, Corinne.
The case was apparently dismissed, and then Corinne sued him.

In early 2009, Oasis Winery filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Virginia, with the company claiming
$335,000 in assets and $965,000 in liabilities, according to public records, CNN reported.

The company noted it had an income of $1.7 million in 2007, which dramatically dropped to
only $35,000 just a year later.

Among possessions repossessed from the company include a 2004 Aston Martin worth about $150,000,
and a boat valued at approximately $90,000.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

other unconfirmed claims are coming out ... such as :

the couple runs bogus fundraisers for Polo and keeps most of the money

Michaele was not really a cheerleader ?
Michaele did not model for all the companies she claims on Facebook

Obama's Secret Climate Pact

by Richard Wolffe

It's no coincidence that one day after the White House announced new emissions targets, China followed suit with its own target. The Daily Beast's Richard Wolffe on the behind-the-scenes negotiations during Obama's Asia trip that could help break the climate stalemate in Copenhagen.

After the Olympic-sized disappointment of his last trip to Copenhagen, why on earth would President Obama want to travel once again to the Danish capital for next month’s UN climate talks?

The answer, according to White House officials, lies in several weeks of intensive behind-the-scenes diplomacy that the press corps entirely overlooked during Obama’s recent trip to China, and during the recent state visit by India’s prime minister.



Beyond the photo ops and press statements, Obama was pushing President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the kind of climate deals that eluded him at the G8 summit in Italy in the summer – and have eluded international negotiators for the last decade. China and India have played central roles in blocking past agreements, alongside the US, in a seemingly intractable dispute between fast-developing economies and the older, wealthier polluters.

Now Obama is at the point where he feels on the verge of a breakthrough, based on the kind of talks that don’t get covered by reporters obsessing about state dinners. “He had extensive conversations with President Hu specifically on climate and conversations with the prime minister of India,” said one senior White House aide. “So he has been building momentum for a political agreement to be brokered at Copenhagen.”

That was the backdrop for Wednesday’s White House announcement of specific targets to reduce emissions “in the range of 17% below 2005 levels in 2020.” The next day, on Thanksgiving, China announced its own bargaining position to slow the growth of carbon emissions by 2020. Using a different standard from the US – measuring carbon intensity (relative to its own economic growth), China is offering a 40 to 45% cut below 2005 levels.

Environmental groups have criticized both the American and Chinese targets as too low. But the criticism was much sharper when it looked like President Obama might not attend Copenhagen. Now the White House says Obama believes he can be a decisive factor in turning the talks into a success. “He feels he can be a catalyst for getting a political agreement in place,” says one senior aide.

Obama’s decision to attend Copenhagen only crystallized over the last two weeks as the Chinese and Indian talks progressed, out of public view. However Obama will not stay for the conclusion of the week-long talks, and he arrives at the start of the conference before traveling on to Oslo, Norway, to accept his Nobel peace prize the following day. Instead, he will leave behind several White House and Cabinet officials, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and White House climate change czar Carol Browner.

By leaving early, Obama has drawn some European criticism since he will not be present for the later-stage arm-twisting that could be decisive in reaching an international agreement. Yet that scheduling decision also avoids any potential embarrassment in case Copenhagen ends up with no agreement whatsoever – a possible repeat of the Olympics fiasco. Speculation has already surfaced that the President might jet back to Copenhagen if a deal is within reach a week later. “Let’s hope there’s good karma in Copenhagen this time,” says one White House official.

The main difference between the Olympic trip and the climate talks: The White House has been doing its own prep work instead of relying on others. Obama’s personal investment in climate talks – from the G8 to his recent Asian travel – appears to have delivered some concrete, if modest, agreements. His prep has also delivered other benefits, including this week’s support from China for a strongly-worded, but limited, statement condemning Iran’s nuclear program at the IAEA. Both were overlooked during the Asia trip that was widely criticized for its lack of so-called deliverables.

However the climate negotiators may be more interested to hear about the kind of prep work the President has engaged in back home with his own Congress. Without a clear promise of binding US legislation, the Copenhagen talks may struggle to move ahead amid skepticism about America’s commitment to slowing climate change.

This week the White House was eager to point out that the President’s Copenhagen targets were in line with legislation currently before Congress. It also quoted favorably from a range of unlikely supporters, including Senator Joe Lieberman and several energy company CEOs, such as Jim Rogers of Duke Energy and Lew Hay of Florida Power & Light.

Whether those statements will satisfy the international negotiators, or add to any momentum inside Congress, is unclear. At least Obama will return from Europe with something golden and tangible in his hands: the medal dedicated to his Nobel prize.

Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-26/obamas-secret-climate-pact/

I wonder if they talked about the sweat shops they run?

Joebert wrote:

I wonder if they talked about the sweat shops they run?

They are taking baby steps...

since when did the dana crew get security?

KK wrote:

since when did the dana crew get security?

Maybe they ask if he wanted to be on a reality show?

i'm still laughing at the tiger woods sideshow