And speaking of "scammers" ... ~ Sooz

The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the network does not publicly discuss bookings, told the Associated Press that representatives for Michaele and Tareq Salahi contacted networks to urge them to "get their bids in" for an interview. The executive said the Virginia couple was looking for a payment in the mid-six figures range.

Meanwhile, CNN confirmed that the Salahis had canceled an appearance they had scheduled for "Larry King Live" on Monday.

MORE: Crashers could face criminal charges
WHITE HOUSE: State dinner crashers met Obama
FACEBOOK: Michaele Salahi's Facebook profile

Network news divisions say they don't pay for interviews. But for eagerly sought interviews in the past, they have offered to pay for access to exclusive material, such as pictures or videos from their subjects.

Representatives for the couple did not immediately return telephone and e-mail requests for comment.

Michaele Salahis is a reality TV hopeful trying to get on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of D.C." Her and her husband's success in getting into the state dinner Tuesday without an invitation embarrassed the White House and Secret Service.

The agency acknowledged its officers never checked whether the couple were on the guest list before letting them onto the White House grounds. But it initially insisted Obama was never endangered by the security breach because the couple - like others at the dinner - had gone through magnetometers.

When it became clear the couple had interacted with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during the event, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan expressed concern and embarrassment. He said that while an investigation continues, the agency has taken measures to ensure the oversight is not repeated.

A White House photo showed 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 and her husband looks on. Singh is to Obama's left.

On Saturday, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-NY, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called for a review of Secret Service practices and asked for a briefing this week.

Agency spokesmen declined to comment on reports that agents had visited the Salahis' vineyard in Hume, Va., in search of the couple. Voice mail messages left Saturday at two separate telephone numbers for the Oasis Winery, south of Washington, were not immediately returned.

It is unclear what the couple told officers at the checkpoint that allowed them to go through the security screening. The Salahis lawyer, Paul Gardner, posted a comment on their Facebook page saying his clients were cleared by the White House to be at the dinner.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... titialskip

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The couple who made their way into a White House State Dinner officially uninvited and met the president, vice president and other high-level officials there said today that they are not gate-crashers and have been "devastated'' by criticism.

Tareq Salahi, making his first television appearance since the dinner that President Barack Obama hosted for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last Tuesday, insisted in an interview on NBC's Today show that the couple is cooperating with a Secret Service investigation of the matter and "the truth will come out.''

Salahi, maintaining that, for his wife, Michaele, the experience has been "the most devastating thing that has ever happened,'' said today: "We're greatly saddened by all the circumstances ... portraying my wife and I as party crashers. I can tell you we did not party-crash the White House.''

Insisting that there is more to the story of their appearance at Obama's first State Dinner, Salahi maintained that the explanation will exonerate the couple from any allegations of misconduct.

"We were invited, not crashers,'' Michaele Salahi said, "and there isn't anyone who would have the audacity or the poor behavior to do that,. No one would do that, and certainly not us.''

Tareq Salahi, maintaining that he has emails that support his claim, said: "I am certain we will be completely exonerated.''

The emails are "clear to us,'' he said in the Today interview, picturing the couple seated side by side at home. "Based on the timeline, I think the American public is actually going to be extremely surprised with all the details that went from beginning to end into what was supposed to be a lovely, beautiful evening - a lifetime memory.''

"A lifetime memory,'' his wife echoed.

Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, said in another televised interview this morning that there is no other way to view this incident than an unauthorized intrusion.

""This wasn't a misunderstanding," Gibbs said in an interview aired by MSNBC this morning. "You don't show up at the White House as a misunderstanding."

Gibbs said this, too, in an appearance this morning on FOX & Friends: "If your name isn't on the list, which their's wasn't, if you didn't get an invite, which they didn't, you shouldn't be here at an event... Those individuals should not have gotten on the complex."

The White House says the Secret Service is investigating what happened at a State Dinner where two people who were not formally invited managed to make the rounds of the dinner, shake the president's hand in a receiving line and pose for photographs with Vice President Joe Biden and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel,

"I think the president really had the same reaction the Secret Service had,'' Gibbs said of Obama's response, "and that was great concern for how something like this happened."

With members of Congress calling for an investigation, and the House Homeland Security Committee scheduling a hearing this week, Salahi maintains that he and his wife are "shocked and devastated'' by the portrayals of them as gate-crashers.

"No question,'' said Salahi, characterizing himself as a great admirer of the president. "It's been devastating what's happened to Michaele and I ... Our lives have really been destroyed."

Salahi said he and his wife have been "very candid" with the Secret Service and "have turned over documentation to them... We're going to definitely work with the Secret Service between Micahele and I to really shed light on this.''

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/polit ... innoc.html

This is a WaPo "News Alert" email I just received ~ sounds like they may have a problem with speaking under oath ~ Sooz

News Alert
10:00 PM EST Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Salahis decline to testify before House committee

Tareq and Michaele Salahi will not testify before Congress on Thursday about how they got into the White House last week for President Obama's first state dinner, the Associated Press reported. The Salahis' publicist said in a statement that the couple had already provided information to lawmakers.

POLITICO "Breaking News" email ~ while I have great and deep respect for the Secret Service, I definitely see the suspension as the right reaction ~ I'm debating with myself whether firing is the right reaction as well ~ it could easily have been a disaster ~ but thankfully it was not ~ Sooz

POLITICO Breaking News:
-----------------------------------------------------

The agents who let Tareq and Michaele Salahi through the White House checkpoint at last week's state dinner have been placed on administrative leave and might be fired, according to Secret Service chief Mark Sullivan.