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If Carlos Allen had a scintilla of nervousness on his final try in getting into President Barack Obama’s state dinner after being turned away from the White House gates twice, it was quickly replaced by the urge most folks get when a good time is just within reach.
"I looked around and said, 'Yo, it's time to go party,'" Allen told ABC’s “Good Morning America” Monday.
Allen, a 39-year-old Washington businessman, is the alleged third uninvited guest who breached security and enjoyed Obama’s lavish November dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the president’s first formal White House party since taking office.
After denying reports that identified him as the third party crasher, Allen 'fessed up and went on morning and evening television talk shows to tell his side of the story.
He said he denied being in the White House that night because he didn’t want to be associated with the media frenzy and scrutiny surrounding Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the infamous suburban Washington wannabe reality television show contestants who breached security, rubbed elbows with VIPs at the dinner, then posted their conquest on their Facebook page.
"I did not want to embarrass my president," Allen told “Good Morning America.” "I did not want to embarrass my administration. I did not want to embarrass my country."
Allen said he was upfront with the Secret Service when they questioned him about his whereabouts the night of the dinner and has answered all their questions without having his lawyer present.
"I never denied to the Secret Service that I was there," he said. "When individuals who were calling me and said 'Were you at the White House,' I didn't know these people who were calling me and asking me questions."
Allen and his attorney, A. Scott Bolden used interviews on GMA and CNN’s “Larry King Live” last night to offer their spin on exactly how he got into the White House. Bolden maintains his client was invited to the event. Allen told GMA host Robin Roberts - who, ironically, sat next to him at the state dinner - a copy of an invitation. But the invite he presented ABC News didn’t have an official envelope, and he didn’t have any documents bearing his name.
Allen, who runs an event business called Hush Galleria, admitted he didn’t have a place card at the dinner and was seated after asking a White House official for direction.
Invitation or no, Bolden insisted that once Allen was waved into the White House and given a place at the dinner table, he became an invited guest.
"He asked a White House staffer, 'Where do I sit,' and a White House staff steered him to that seat," Bolden said. "Doesn't sound like Carlos Allen is a criminal trespasser… It sounds like he’s an invitee, and that’s our position. He's a cooperative witness with the Secret Service, and we'll see how this plays out."
Allen wasn’t treated like a welcome guest when he initially tried to enter the White House. He said he was turned away from two gates – one of them on two separate tries - around 5:45 p.m. that night.
Frustrated, Allen gave up and walked to the nearby Willard Hotel in search of friends. "It was cold; it was raining, as I recall," he told GMA. "I had a cold, and I was not wanting to be outside."
After failing to see any familiar faces at the Willard’s bar, Allen said he noticed a group of well-dressed people talking about heading to the White House on a bus.
“Everyone was looking good; I was looking good because I was going to the state dinner… They said ‘Oh, it’s time to go to the White House,’” Allen recalled. “I said ‘Well, I’m going to the White House, too, because I have an invite.’”
Turns out that the group was a delegation from India whose members had dinner invitations.
Secret Service officials have said that the handling of the delegation was the responsibility of a State Department protocol officer. But the Secret Service did conduct a check of delegation members before they boarded the bus.
"Once I got in line with everyone else, I basically had my invite. I went up to the actual Secret Service person," Allen said. "He basically wanded me, didn't ask me for anything else."
The three security breaches have left the Secret Service red-faced and Congress looking for answers. The service is investigating the actions of Allen and the Salahis. The House Homeland Security Committee has held hearings and issued subpoenas for the Salahis to testify. The couple, through their attorney, said they refused to testify.
A federal grand jury, meanwhile, has issued subpoenas to people who know the Salahis – including the woman who styled Michaele Salahi’s hair for the dinner – ordering them to testify.
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