Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust (20 page)

The nation’s media machine was nitro-fueled by the initial and continuing reports from the
Washington Post
and CNN. They are the predominant and most respected news outlets in the nation’s capitol and those two organizations set the tone and focus of the saga from the beginning: Michaele and Tareq Salahi were “Crashers” and potential felons, to be dealt with as harshly as possible.

From Kansas to Capitol Hill, there was palpable outrage. On Thanksgiving morning, November 26, the “The Reliable Source” column carried the headline, “Tareq and Michaele Salahi Crash Obama’s State Dinner for India” and the copy read in part:

A couple of aspiring reality-TV stars (sic) from Northern Virginia appear to have crashed the White House’s state dinner Tuesday night, penetrating layers of security with no invitation to mingle with the likes of Vice President Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

The next morning, November 27, 2009, Argetsinger and Roberts had another big exclusive. Under the headline, “Who are these people? The climbers at the gate,” they told the story about how Michaele had spent seven hours in a “posh Georgetown salon getting ready for her big night out.” The main focus of the piece seemed to be the hairdresser’s repeated request to see the actual engraved White House invitation which Michaele pretended to look for and couldn’t produce. Buried in the middle of the column was this denial by the Salahis’ entertainment attorney, insisting the couple did nothing wrong.

Attorney Paul W. Gardner posted a statement on the couple’s Facebook page saying: “My clients were cleared, by the White House, to be there. More information is forthcoming.”

But Gardner, who is the man the Salahis insist spearheaded their White House state dinner invitation, never said a public word in defense of his two beleaguered clients.

Repeated e-mails were sent and phone calls were made to obtain Paul Gardner’s comments for this book. None of the efforts were productive. His public relations person, Mahogany Jones, was the only one to respond when asked for an explanation about his role in helping the Salahis get into the White House that night.

“We’ve been in front of the federal grand jury … we know lots about the story that’s never been told. We’ve been approached by lots of media. What is his benefit in talking to you? Is there any compensation for this?”

When Gardner’s office was informed that nobody was being paid to be interviewed for this book, it became clear that there would be no access to Paul Gardner, even though he figures prominently in another seemingly contrived media story about the Salahis. Late on the evening of Monday November 30, WTTG-TV, the local Washington, DC Fox affiliate reported that the couple had sneaked into
another
major Washington event—one where President Obama was again present—and that it happened two months
before
the White House state dinner.

The reporter was Will Thomas:

Less than a week after their appearance at the White House State Dinner, Michaele and Tareq Salahi have some more explaining to do. Representatives from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) say the couple also attended their recent awards dinner without an invitation, and multiple sources say they sneaked into the event through an entrance meant for busboys and caterers.

Thomas included an interview with the CBCF Communications Director, Lance Jones, in his report. What Jones said about the September 26
^th
dinner left the Salahis slack-jawed with disbelief when they saw it later on videotape.

I was told we had a couple sitting at our table that didn’t belong, and as a result I walked back to security guards and I asked them to walk over with me—that we might have a situation of some uninvited guests. I walked back to the table (and) checked the list. Upon confirming that they did not belong, we escorted them out.

I asked for identification, I asked for their tickets which they could not produce, and at that time I told our security guard that we’re going to walk out—walk out and they were not going to be allowed back in.

The Salahis tell a very different story. They say their attorney, Paul Gardner, who is African-American and planned to attend the Congressional Black Caucus annual dinner, invited them to go. “He said he’d gotten some tickets from someone,” Michaele said. “He was always getting tickets from people for these big events.”

As their attorney, Gardner knew all about the Salahis’ contract with the Bravo television show even though no public announcement had been made. According to the Salahis, he was excited at the prospect of getting some national TV exposure for the annual Black Caucus awards dinner. Michaele says, “I told him I had called Bravo producers and they said, yes, we could get the TV cameras there to film it, to show the wonderful diversity of Washington, D.C.”

The Salahis said they arrived at the location, met Gardner outside, and as he handed them their tickets they walked through the front doors of the event together—not through any busboy back entrance. The couple says they all waited in the lobby for the Bravo camera crew, greeting other guests and talking to each other, for at least twenty minutes. No Bravo crew showed up. Phone calls were made and assurances were given that the crew would be there right away. The Salahis say they and their lawyer casually wandered in to the formal dining room to find their table.

“I was getting agitated,” Tareq admits, “because here was poor Michaele, all dressed up in a long red cashmere gown running around acting like a TV producer. She kept taking phone calls and getting up and going back out to the lobby to see if the crew had arrived. She was sweating and I could tell her MS was acting up.” Michaele confirms the “pins and needles” feeling had begun to creep in to her arms and legs as she got overheated from all the activity. Tareq made an angry call to the Bravo producer explaining the crew situation and the couple’s embarrassment at having promised something that apparently wasn’t going to happen. It turned out to be the first of many aggravating, tension filled phone calls the producers would get from Tareq Salahi.

Finally, the Secret Service began its lockdown of the venue in anticipation of President Obama’s arrival. At that moment, Michaele says she spotted her camera crew—out in the lobby on the wrong side of the Secret Service barricade. She went to the door of the dining hall and waved at them, hoping they’d convince the guards to let them through. Veteran Washington photographer, Neshan Naltchayan was standing next to the crew.

They were grumbling and complaining when they saw Michaele waving at them. They’d just gotten there too late. It was like they never heard of a presidential lockdown situation before. Finally, one of them said, “This is impossible—we’re outta here!” and they just left. Amazing.

Naltchayan, son of the famed White House photographer Harry Naltchayan, who worked for the
Washington Post
for thirty-five years, has known the Salahis for a decade. He said the blonde Michaele, who easily stands six feet tall in heels, stood out among the mostly African American crowd that night. Asked if the Salahis had sneaked in a back entrance, Naltchayan said, “That is completely NOT how I saw it that night. That is completely wrong and was said to make them look shady.” His voice took on a resolute tone as he related his version of events. “It’s crazy to think they were escorted out. I was there. The minute the President left, everyone was able to mingle around in the big hall. I took pictures of the Salahis with DNC Chairman Tim Kaine and his son at the end of the night. They had lots of pictures taken and were there all evening.”

Naltchayan has been around the Washington scene his whole life and spent part of his career, from 2001 to 2007 working for a cabinet official in the Bush Administration. “No one ever gets an e-mail invitation to the White House?” he asked rhetorically, his voice rising. “Oh, yes they do! I got them for White House events and Christmas parties from the social secretaries all the time. I would sometimes take my mother with me at the last minute.” When there are sudden guest cancellations, Naltchayan confirmed, they always hand them out to insure the room looks full.

Several phone calls and e-mails were sent while researching this book to Lance Jones, the CBCF Communications director, asking for his reaction to the Salahis’ side of the story. There was a terse written response: “With regard to your question, we escorted them away from the table DURING the dinner. After that, I’m not sure where they went. Thanks.”

More than one veteran Washington-watcher, looking at photographs of the Salahis at their dinner table enjoying the evening and posing for pictures with dignitaries at the end of the evening, wondered if the couple was singled out for CBCF criticism after the fact because that brought the organization much more attention than it would have gotten from a brief mention on a Bravo TV show. One source who prefers anonymity and a place on future Washington dinner guest lists said, “Everyone wanted to just jump on their (the Salahis’) spotlight. They wanted to get on TV talking about the hottest story in town.”

Attorney Paul Gardner has never made a public comment about the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner and any role he may have played in the Salahis attendance. His public relations person, Mahogany Jones, says only that it is “incorrect” that Gardner helped them get in. Two months later, and immediately after the White House state dinner fiasco, Tareq Salahi says he was convinced by Gardner to allow Mahogany Jones to act as their media representative. “He told us we’d really need somebody to help us with strategy,” Tareq added.

Television guest bookers at three different networks revealed that after the state dinner disaster, Ms. Jones also approached them about “compensation for the Salahis’ story.” On November 28
^th
, when
New York Times
reporter Brian Stelter wrote that the Salahis were, “seeking top-dollar bids for their first television interview,” he never mentioned those solicitations were coming from Mahogany Jones. Also not mentioned was her connection to Paul Gardner, the man associated with the dinner invitations. The Salahis maintain they were so overwhelmed with what was happening in their lives, especially the threat of possible federal charges, that they had no real idea what Jones was doing on their behalf. They expressed surprise at the
New York Times
revelation that “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” had been requested for their story.

Mahogany Jones’ tenure with the Salahis was short-lived.

Also on November 28
^th
, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the
Washington Post
ran a lengthy piece written by three reporters. The headline was, “Secret Service apologizes for ticketless couple’s access.” But the lead was all about how the suspect Salahis had actually gotten close enough to the President to shake his hand. The White House had finally released the official White House photo taken of the moment Michaele slipped her hand into President Obama’s. This is what the
Post
wrote:

Getting to the president is not supposed to be this easy. The White House said late Friday that Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the Virginia couple auditioning (sic) for a Bravo reality show not only got past layers of experienced, executive-branch security, but also shook the President’s hand in the Blue Room of the White House during the Obamas’ first state dinner. Late Friday, the White House also released a photo of Michaele Salahi’s audience with the president, with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh smiling nearby.

And now there were two new photographs to add to the media’s arsenal of evidence that the Salahis were not where they were supposed to have been on November 24, 2009. As TV news programs displayed the newly released pair of White House photos, newscasters continued to regurgitate oftentimes erroneous facts about the Salahis and exclaim, Look! There she is actually touching President Obama! A Secret Service spokesman was prominently quoted as saying the service had “not ruled out” criminal charges against the couple.

All these stories were newsworthy in the sense that whenever the President of the United States is made vulnerable—especially due to the failures of his own security agents—taxpaying citizens have the right to know. When there is a break down in security that could put foreign dignitaries visiting the White House in danger, then that is certainly also noteworthy. It was the myopic angle of the news coverage in this instance that failed journalistic standards.

At the center of nearly every article or television report was minute detail about Michaele and Tareq Salahi. Stories abounded about their trail of past debts, his polo playing and her claim that she’d been a Redskins Cheerleader in the late 1980s. Similar razor sharp attention was not given to the White House Social Secretary, Desiree Rogers, whose staff should have been at the entrance gate the night of the state dinner. Similar scrutiny was not directed at the Secret Service and the longstanding lament that the agency is grossly underfunded to do its primary job of protecting the president and his cabinet. There were no reports quoting the appropriate congressional committee chairman about possibly increasing the Secret Service budget to avoid future security problems. The fate of the three Secret Service Agents who were put on suspension was dropped almost as soon as it was discovered by the media. No questions were raised about why the Obamas had broken protocol and invited more than double the number of guests of previous state dinners. There was barely a mention made of a third person, Carlos Allen, who had also allegedly sneaked into the state dinner that night.