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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">By: Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The couple who crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner <span style="font-weight: bold">communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denies that she helped the couple get in.</span>
Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House on Monday evening that she never said or implied she would get Michaele and Tareq Salahi into the Nov. 24 White House dinner.
"I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening's activities," Jones said. "Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come."
This is the latest twist in the unfolding mystery of how the two reality show wannabes managed to get into the highly secured event and shake hands with President Barack Obama. Also on Monday, a House committee chairman asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.
<span style="font-weight: bold">In a similar incident a month before, 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.</span>
"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.
WTTG-TV, which first reported the incident at the Black Caucus dinner, said that when the Salahis showed up at the dinner they were followed by TV cameras from Bravo, which airs the "Real Housewives" reality programs, and were turned away at the door.
"They apparently made their way through the kitchen and got in that way," Jones said, who added that he realized the incident involved the Salahis after he was contacted Monday by a WTTG reporter.
Most the attendees at the event did not have access to Obama, he said.
A Secret Service spokesman, Darrin Blackford, said early Tuesday he had no information on the incident.
The White House issued Michele Jones' statement after questions were raised about communications between the administration and the couple prior to the state dinner. The White House did not provide details about Jones' relationship with the couple. Jones spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver on Obama's behalf, and is currently a Pentagon-based liaison with the White House.
A friend of the couple, McLean, Va., real estate agent Casey Margenau, said in an interview with The Associated Press <span style="font-weight: bold">that the couple interpreted an e-mail exchange as permission to attend the exclusive White House event.</span> <span style="font-style: italic">Margenau said he did not personally see the e-mails and did not know with whom the couple was corresponding.</span> </div></div>
WASHINGTON (AP) — The couple who crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner <span style="font-weight: bold">communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denies that she helped the couple get in.</span>
Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House on Monday evening that she never said or implied she would get Michaele and Tareq Salahi into the Nov. 24 White House dinner.
"I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening's activities," Jones said. "Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come."
This is the latest twist in the unfolding mystery of how the two reality show wannabes managed to get into the highly secured event and shake hands with President Barack Obama. Also on Monday, a House committee chairman asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.
<span style="font-weight: bold">In a similar incident a month before, 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.</span>
"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.
WTTG-TV, which first reported the incident at the Black Caucus dinner, said that when the Salahis showed up at the dinner they were followed by TV cameras from Bravo, which airs the "Real Housewives" reality programs, and were turned away at the door.
"They apparently made their way through the kitchen and got in that way," Jones said, who added that he realized the incident involved the Salahis after he was contacted Monday by a WTTG reporter.
Most the attendees at the event did not have access to Obama, he said.
A Secret Service spokesman, Darrin Blackford, said early Tuesday he had no information on the incident.
The White House issued Michele Jones' statement after questions were raised about communications between the administration and the couple prior to the state dinner. The White House did not provide details about Jones' relationship with the couple. Jones spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver on Obama's behalf, and is currently a Pentagon-based liaison with the White House.
A friend of the couple, McLean, Va., real estate agent Casey Margenau, said in an interview with The Associated Press <span style="font-weight: bold">that the couple interpreted an e-mail exchange as permission to attend the exclusive White House event.</span> <span style="font-style: italic">Margenau said he did not personally see the e-mails and did not know with whom the couple was corresponding.</span> </div></div>