Party Crashers met Obama

[classicman]

WASHINGTON – The Virginia couple who crashed a presidential dinner met President Barack Obama in the receiving line, the White House said Friday, as a "deeply concerned and embarrassed" Secret Service acknowledged its officers failed to check whether the couple was on the guest list.

The White House released a photo showing the Salahis in the receiving line in the Blue Room with Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in whose honor the dinner was held. Obama and Michaele Salahi are smiling as she grasps his right hand with both of hers as her husband, Tareq, looks on. Singh is standing to the left of Obama.

The Secret Service earlier this week had said the president was not in danger because the couple — like others at the dinner — had gone through magnetometers. But in light of their close proximity to the president, no such claim was made Friday.

The Salahis were not on the guest list and should have been prohibited from entering last Tuesday's dinner on the White House South Lawn for the prime minister of India, said Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan.

On Friday, Sullivan was apologetic in a written statement, saying the agency that protects the president is "deeply concerned and embarrassed" that procedures were not followed.

"As our investigation continues, appropriate measures have been taken to ensure this is not repeated," Sullivan said.

Wow - How the hell does that happen? I bet a few heads are gonna roll for this one.
Link

The couple was swept by security at that point but no longer had to show identification once they were in the White House, a source familiar with the procedure said.

The Virginia socialites then walked by a crew of photographers and reporters about 45 minutes before the dinner started, posed for pictures and then likely went upstairs to the reception. The White House said they were never seated at the dinner.

Criminal charges against the couple, who posted pictures of themselves posing in the tent on the South Lawn with chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel, are still a possibility.

"We are not ruling anything out we just need to let the investigation proceed," Mackin said. "We need to verify and make sure we talk to everybody involved."

Mackin stressed that the couple was swept for weapons, yet Ronald Kessler, author of "In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect," said a metal detector search couldn’t offer full protection.

"There are so many ways to kill a person other than coming in with a weapon," Kessler said on CNN. "Once they were in, they could have grabbed a knife and put it through the heart of the president."

Link

[ZenGum]

Well, that makes me feel a bit better about our incompetence at the APEC summit a while back.

[TheMercenary]

If it wasn't such a serious security breech it would be pretty funny. They could have hit Obama with a pie to make it more profound.

[Griff]

This helps make the point that security is mostly illusion.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by classicman

Wow - How the hell does that happen? ...

It's a vast right-wing conspiracy, I tell ya!

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Griff

This helps make the point that security is mostly illusion.

I don't know. Good security is about a game of chances. I don't think you can ever achieve a zero chance of eliminating danger, but you can get pretty close and should be when talking about the President. It could have turned out tragically if someone had a more nefarious intent.

[skysidhe]

I am just catching up with this today from the net.
Today's headline about this includes other information that this couple had been to other functions, uninvited, where Obama was speaking.

The story raises more questions than answers then and if this fox news story is true then I wonder what that the game is. They act as if they are being set up? I somehow doubt that.

I am prejudiced against Fox and it's affiliates but here is the statement anyway.



WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington, reported on a similar incident a month before, in which the Salahis sneaked in through a back entrance to a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner at which Obama spoke. A guest complained that the couple didn't belong at his table.
"I double-checked my (guest) list and when they weren't on that list we escorted them out," a foundation representative, Lance Jones, said in an interview early Tuesday.
The Salahis insisted that they had, indeed, been invited to the Black Caucus dinner, saying they'd gotten the invitation from the Gardner Law Group.
The Salahis' lawyer, Paul Gardner, is the managing partner of the Baltimore law firm, which handles corporate and entertainment law. A message left early Tuesday at the law firm was not immediately returned.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_uninvited_guests

[xoxoxoBruce]

The White house needs me, to strip search all the female attendees.
No, boob jobs shouldn't have a fuse.

[glatt]

The Washington Post has been reporting on this every day since the dinner. This couple's hobby is apparently to meet as many famous people as possible. They have wormed their way into meeting a lot of important and famous people. The Post ran a few pictures of previous celebs they have met. I think Prince Charles, Huey Lewis, and one or two others I can't remember.

If you dress the part, and act confident, you can bluff your way through a lot of situations. The Secret Service screwed up, but there was never any real danger. They had to go through security to get in.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by glatt

The Secret Service screwed up, but there was never any real danger. They had to go through security to get in.

From the original post . . .

Ronald Kessler, author of "In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect," said a metal detector search couldn’t offer full protection.

"There are so many ways to kill a person other than coming in with a weapon," Kessler said on CNN. "Once they were in, they could have grabbed a knife and put it through the heart of the president."

[lookout123]

"There are so many ways to kill a person other than coming in with a weapon," Kessler said on CNN. "Once they were in, they could have grabbed a knife and put it through the heart of the president."

he said wistfully.

[casimendocina]

Originally Posted by lookout123

he said wistfully.

Would the world really want Bush as president again?

The Opposition leader has just changed here in Australia. I wasn't a fan of Malcolm Turnbull, but I'm even less a fan of Tony Abbott (even if he does surf).

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by lookout123

he said wistfully.

He must be a huge Biden fan.

[Elspode]

You know what pisses me off? That reality TV, and the chance to be on it, is so much more important than even the facade of security at the White House. Do these fuckers give a shit about anything other than their chance at fame and fortune? Nope. Not even a little bit. In fact, they're more than happy to lie through their teeth until such time as someone slaps them down for their trouble.

People suck.

[richlevy]

What's really annoying is when asked if they were invited, the couple said that they are 'working with' the secret service.

Sort of like how Bernie Madoff was 'working with' the SEC.