State Dinner Crashers

Peter King: Rogers Must Testify, But Salahis Have A Lot Going On

Christina Bellantoni | December 3, 2009, 3:57PM

Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

Sounds like Michaele and Tareq Salahi have Rep. Peter King (R-NY) on their side.

King, who says he wants to subpoena White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers over Party Crasher Gate, seems to be more forgiving of the Salahi couple who started the whole affair.

He said this morning on CBS it was up to them if they wanted to testify.

"I think they have enough legal problems without increasing it by testifying," King said.

Rogers, on the other hand, is covering up for the White House by declining to testify, King suggested, asking today what she had to hide.

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Michaele and Tareq Salahi

Gibbs Reacts To King's Push To Subpoena WH Social Secretary

Christina Bellantoni | December 3, 2009, 10:20AM

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs reacted this morning to reports that Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said he would push to subpoena White House social secretary Desiree Rogers over last week's infamous party-crashing incident, saying that "we'd be happy to look at it."

He said there is a history of White House staff being able to advise the president confidentially with the few exceptions of Watergate, 9/11 and Whitewater.

"I don't think even Peter King would have the audacity to in some way put the Salahis in the trifecta of Watergate, 9/11 or some of the financial dealings," he said.

Late Update: King responds to the Gibbs dig:

"The only audacity I had was 'the audacity of hope' that the White House would be honest. Unfortunately, they are more interested in covering up and stonewalling."

State Dinner Crashers

Salahis Decline Invitation To Visit Congress

Evan McMorris-Santoro | December 2, 2009, 10:25PM

President Obama greeting Michaele Salahi

Congress just found the one spotlight the Salahis would rather stay out of. The AP is reporting that the couple known for crashing the White House state dinner Nov. 24 has decided against accepting the House Homeland Security Committee's invitation to the hearings being held on the state dinner incident tomorrow.

They may not have a choice, however. FishbowlDC reported that Homeland Security Committee chair Rep. Bernie Thompson (D-MS) said he'd subpoena the Salahis should they decline his invitation to appear.

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State Dinner Crashers

House Panel Hears Lone Doorman Theory On Salahis

Evan McMorris-Santoro | December 2, 2009, 6:11PM

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY)

Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform emerged from a closed-door briefing on the White House party crashers this afternoon placing blame for the security breach squarely on the shoulders of a single, unnamed Secret Service officer.

"It's very clear that there was one person who allowed these two individuals to go from Station 1 to Station 2," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the ranking member on the committee, told reporters. "One person's error appears to have led to a person having literally hand-to-hand contact with the Vice President."

Committee chair Edolphus Towns (D-NY) didn't confirm Issa's take on the closed-door briefing with Secret Service officials, but expressed his confidence that an internal investigation into the party crashing by the Secret Service will find a solution to the problem.

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Gate Crashers

Darrell Issa: People Have Crashed White House Parties Before. For Example, Me

Evan McMorris-Santoro | December 2, 2009, 5:13PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

At a press gaggle just now, Rep. Darrell Issa told reporters that the Salahis didn't invent White House party crashing.

"This is not the first time -- this has happened before," he said. "I got into the White House when my name wasn't on a slip during the Clinton administration."

As Issa told it, his party crash came in 1995 -- before he was a Representative -- at a NAFTA event held on the White House South Lawn. Issa said he was supposed to be on the list of attendees, but wasn't on the list the gate keepers had. So was turned away at the door. That's when he decided to pull a Salahi and waltz in anyway.

"My name wasn't on, I was rejected, I then walked through with what I recall was the Xerox group," he said. "We just came in en masse."

An Issa aide told TPMDC after the gaggle that Issa's breach did not result in a Secret Service investigation. Or, it seems, a shot at reality TV fame.

State Dinner Crashers

White House Releases Its Own Review After Party Crashers

Christina Bellantoni | December 2, 2009, 4:57PM

Michaele and Tareq Salahi at the State Dinner.

We reported earlier that the White House has changed its procedures for parties after the incident at the state dinner last week.

They just posted the new guidelines on the White House Web site.

The memo, written by Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, praises the Secret Service and details that they failed to stop the crashers when they weren't on the guest list.

The money line in the conclusion goes to the heart of the problem that allowed Michaele and Tareq Salahi to get into the dinner and hobnob with Vice President Joe Biden, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and others.

After reviewing our actions, it is clear that the White House did not do everything we could have done to assist the United States Secret Service in ensuring that only invited guests enter the complex. White House staff were walking back and forth outside between the check points helping guests and were available to the Secret Service throughout the evening, but clearly we can do more, and we will do more.

The memo in full after the jump.

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State Dinner Crashers

House Panel Getting Briefing On Party Crashers

Christina Bellantoni | December 1, 2009, 5:23PM

Tareq and Michaele Salahi

A Capitol Hill source tells TPMDC that members of Congress are getting a briefing about the state dinner incident tomorrow.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Wednesday at 4 p.m. is holding a members-only briefing about how Michaele and Tareq Salahi were able to get into the state dinner at the White House last week.

Follow TPM's coverage here.