WASHINGTON — The Virginia couple who crashed a presidential dinner Tuesday met President Barack Obama in the receiving line, the White House said Friday, as a “deeply concerned and embarrassed” Secret Service acknowledged its officers had 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 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 the 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.
Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said officers at the checkpoint had a clipboard with names of invited guests. Even though the Salahis’ names weren’t on it, they were allowed to proceed. The officers should have called either someone on the White House staff or Secret Service personnel before allowing them past the checkpoint, Mackin said.
Earlier, Mackin had said the Secret Service might pursue a criminal investigation of the Salahis.
Bravo Media has confirmed that Michaele Salahi is being considered as a participant in the upcoming “The Real Housewives of D.C.” television series and on the day of the dinner was being filmed around Washington by Half Yard Productions, the producer of the program.
