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Congress: How did couple crash State Dinner?
November 30th, 2009, 6:38 pm · 20 Comments · posted by Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
Rep. Ed Royce and the State Dinner crasher
Rep. Loretta Sanchez will be on hand Thursday when the Homeland Security Committee questions the head of the U.S. Secret Service and the Virginia couple that got past them and crashed President Barack Obama’s first State Dinner.
“For someone to have gotten in without having been on the list and getting that close to the president, there’s really no excuse for it. It’s dangerous,’’ said Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, who is vice chair of the Homeland Security committee.
Sanchez isn’t the only Orange County representative who is interested in what happened last week. Rep. Ed Royce was at the State Dinner for the Indian prime minister and he had his picture taken with Michaele Salahi, who with her husband, Tareq, were not on the guest list but were there nonetheless.
Check out my Thanksgiving Day post on Royce’s experience with the Virginia couple who are reality TV show wannabees. Royce , R-Fullerton, said he just assumed they were invited guests and that lots of folks were snapping pictures before the official dinner began.
The Secret Service is conducting an internal investigation of its practices but White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was grilled pretty thoroughly today about whether the White House Social Office would also come under scrutiny. He repeatedly said he would wait for the results of the Secret Service probe before saying anything else.
It appears that no one from the Social Office – part of the East Wing where the First Lady’s staff resides – was at the gates outside the White House. The generally are there during such events.
“Every time I have gone to the White House under Obama I have had someone from the White House check me in on a list before I got to the Secret Service,’’ said Sanchez. “I’m surprised they didn’t do that that night, especially with something as important as a State Dinner.
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DENA BUNIS, Washington bureau chief, 202-628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento correspondent, 916-449-6046 or bjoseph@ocregister.com
JENNIFER MUIR, County government reporter, 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com
JOEL WALSH, Washington bureau intern, 202-628-6381 or jwalsh@ocregister.com
MARTIN WISCKOL, Politics reporter, 714-285-2867 or mwisckol@ocregister.com twitter.com/MartinWisckol
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Good to know our tax dollars are always at work…even at the top.
Hung up on materialism, clothes, and hair? Check.
Allegedly have little real money, just smoke and mirrors? Check.
Will bend the rules to suit their own selfish purposes regardless of possible harm to others? Check.
Involved in litigation where others allege wrongdoing? Check.
Don’t really produce anything other than “entertainment?” Check.
Yes! They’re ready to be in “Housewives!”
They ought to be held accountable for the time and expense of every politician involved in this “investigation”.
Sanchez . . . nice way to end a sentence with a preposition.
It’s starting to come out little by little but it sounds as if an Obama staffer knew about these people and did nothing to stop them or give the Secret service a heads up that a couple of LOONS might try to get in.
If these Secret Service people are fired or get into trouble then SO SHOULD his own staff member.
Great “tight ship” he’s running, sure sounds like he continues to surround himself with “Only the BEST”
Surprising Indeed!! Shows lapses in security measures!
Quality Research
Blah blah bla
I’ve been around the Secret Service before due to being around presidental visits because I was a Federal Contractor. THESE PEOPLE WERE OBVIOUSLY NOT A THREAT! PEOPLE (repukelicans) ARE OBVIOUSLY TREYING TO MAKE MOUNTINS OUT OF ANTHILLS
SEAN IN NEWPORT:
Well I guess next time we’ll put YOU at Airport Screening or the White House and you can tell the Secret Service who is and who is not a THREAT…
Sound good? You seem to be such a good judge of character by just looking at pictures…Is it because they’re White or because their last name is SALAHI, that you’ve formed this most observant opinion?
Would someone please call 911, and tell them to send over two rolls of Brawny paper towels and while there at it get me another cup of coffee. When I read this line from Sanchez,
“For someone to have gotten in without having been on the list ”
I uncontrollably spit out my coffee all over my monitor and ended up ROFLMAO.
Sanchez mirrors the old saying, “If that ain’t the pot calling the kettle black.”
Translation, she’s worried about two wack jobs entering a state dinner withouth being on “The List”, but openly looks the other way when certain south of the board visitors, who are not on “the List”, make there way here perminately.
Nice way to spin a presidential security breach story into another Lou Dobbs racist rant moment. Spin this. And learn to spell “permanently.”
JFW thanks for being the gullible sucker of the day. If you have ever read my blog posts on the OCR you would have known that when it comes to political articles my staff and I post comments with misspellings and grammatical errors regularly.
The reason?
Because whenever it comes to either politics or teacher’s unions there is always at least one-person with nothing to say other then to try and boast about what they believe is their English and grammatical superiority. The reward to the first person who can get a bite? Lunch. Today I think all have a Double-Double, Animal style, Fries and Vanilla Shake. Thanks JFW.
Yea, yea, your “staff,”.. Now you’re getting closer to the truth.. hehe!
And lemme guess- we’re to believe your use of the expression “south of the board” is just another “intentional error” because you don’t know or have the guts to use the proper expression, “south of the border.”
Amateurishly trying to divert your spinning into a grammatical debate doesn’t change what you did- tried to push the discussion into an immigration rant and attack on Sanchez.
JFW you just don’t get it do you?
wow she looks pretty comfortable there. I guess Sanchez hasn’t seen many spy movies. they’re usually not as ugly as she. somebody definitely dropped the ball.
I have a feeling a White House staff person got them in. I’m sure they were not there to do harm to anyone. I believe it was just the thrill of getting into the party was there motive, but for the White House staff and the Security Service it could have been a United States Major from Fort Hood.
an inside job, wouldn’t be a total surprise.
There was no crash.
No one crashed.
There was no crime committed.
Who to blame? The SS. Fire them.
Start with there Boss, Mr. Obama!
Hahahah!
Next: The spinning fool Mr. No Spin will blame FDR! (In Jon Lovitz voice): “Yea, that’s the ticket! Blame Roosevelt for everything! Yea- give Bush Jr. and Cheney a pass! The last 8 years don’t count!”
Here is all you need to know about this incident. (two emails)
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 1:03 a.m.
From Michaele and Tareq Salahi to Michele Jones
Hi Michele,
You are an angel!
My cell phone battery died early this evening while we were in D.C. from our country home, so I just got your message now after driving back out. But obviously it worked out at the end…. We ended up going to the gate to check in at 6:30 p.m. to just check, in case it got approved, since we didn’t know, and our name was indeed on the list! We are very grateful, and God bless you.
We just got home, and we had a very wonderful evening as you can imagine!
Look forward to seeing you very soon. Say when for dinner — we can’t wait to see you and catch up and share memories of true lifetime.
___
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 1:38 p.m.
From Michele Jones to Tareq Salahi
Tareq,
You are most welcome! I here the smile in your e-mail and am delighted that you and Michaele had a wonderful time.
Have an extraordinary Thanksgiving and many blessings to you both!
Much love,
Michele
Yea Yea Loretta wasting time on a news seeking couple. If you want to jump on the Homeland Security for not doing their job chew them out for not Securing our Borders!! They made a joke of the White House Staff and then left. So your upset that two people going to a White House function verses 2 million entering our counrty? No Mas Ms. Sanchez!!