A powerful Congressional committee today warned Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the couple who gatecrashed into the White House state dinner hosted in honour of prime minister Manmohan Singh, that they will be forced by subpoenas to appear before it for questioning.
The strong warning from Congressman Bennie G Thompson, Chairman of House Committee on Homeland Security, came after attorney representing the Salahis informed that the Virginia couple may not appear before the Committee tomorrow.
Thompson, in his capacity as the Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security which oversees the working of the Secret Service, has convened a hearing tomorrow to discuss the circumstances of the Salahis gate crashing into the state
dinner hosted by president Barack Obama in honour of Singh on November 24.
"I was informed by the Salahis' counsel, that their clients, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, may not appear before the Committee tomorrow as requested... If the Salahis are absent from hearing, the Committee is prepared to move forward with subpoenas to compel their appearance," Thompson said.
He said the Salahis' testimony was important to know how a couple circumvented layers of security at the White House on the evening of a state dinner without causing alarm.
"The Committee on Homeland Security must understand the full scope of what went so terribly wrong on Tuesday night to ensure that security gaps are sealed. This can only be achieved by hearing both sides of the matter," he argued.
"Our goal is to try to get as much information about what occurred at this state dinner as possible and how this security breach happened. The White House should be the most secure home in America and this breach brought a real vulnerability to light," Thompson said in an interview to CNN.
Mark Sullivan, the head of the Secret Service, has agreed to testify before the committee, he said. However, Desiree Rogers, the White House Social Secretary, would not be appearing before the Congressional Committee.
"We are working with and are ready to work with anybody that has questions on that. I think you know that, based on the separation of powers, staff here (White House) don't go to testify in front of Congress. She won't -- she will not be testifying in front of Congress tomorrow," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
In a related development, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina issued a memo in this regard which was posted on the White House website.
"The United States Secret Service announced that the preliminary findings of its internal investigation indicated that established security protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint. As the Secret Service said last week, agents failed to verify that these two individuals were invited guests before they entered the White House," it said.
"After reviewing our actions, it is clear that the White House did not do everything we could have done to assist the US Secret Service in ensuring that only invited guests enter the complex," Messina said in a one-page memo.
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