Politics – Political News

WASHINGTON – A man who made his way uninvited into a White House state dinner is denying that he and his wife are gate-crashers.

In his first nationally broadcast interview since the incident, Tareq Salahi (TAH’-rehk sah-LAH’-hee) told NBC’s “Today” show that the whole experience has been “the most devastating thing that has ever happened” to he and his wife, Michaele.

Salahi said flatly that the couple “did not party-crash the White House.” He said the pair is cooperating with the Secret Service and they have “great respect” for President Barack Obama. Salahi told interviewer Matt Lauer he’s confident “the truth will come out.” about the circumstances surrounding his and his wife’s attendance at the state dinner for the visiting prime minister of India.

WASHINGTON – A man who made his way uninvited into a White House state dinner is denying that he and his wife are gate-crashers.

In his first nationally broadcast interview since the incident, Tareq Salahi (TAH’-rehk sah-LAH’-hee) told NBC’s “Today” show that the whole experience has been “the most devastating thing that has ever happened” to he and his wife, Michaele.

Salahi said flatly that the couple “did not party-crash the White House.” He said the pair is cooperating with the Secret Service and they have “great respect” for President Barack Obama. Salahi told interviewer Matt Lauer he’s confident “the truth will come out.” about the circumstances surrounding his and his wife’s attendance at the state dinner for the visiting prime minister of India.

WASHINGTON – A week after they crashed the Obama administration’s first state dinner, Michaele and Tareq Salahi are telling their side of the story on U.S. television.

The Salahis were scheduled to be interviewed Tuesday morning by Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today.” Despite reports that the couple was seeking payment to be interviewed, an NBC spokeswoman insisted, “No money changed hands.”

NBC’s parent company, NBC Universal, also owns the cable network Bravo. Michaele Salahi had hoped to land a part on an upcoming Bravo reality show, “The Real Housewives of D.C.”

On Monday there were more twists in the unfolding mystery of how the Virginia couple managed to get into the White House dinner Nov. 24 and shake hands with President Barack Obama.

It was revealed that they communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denied that she helped the couple get in.

Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House that she never said or implied she would get the Salahis into the event.

“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.”

WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington, reported on a similar incident a month before, in which 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.

“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.

Also on Monday, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he wants answers about the Secret Service’s security deficiencies that allowed the Salahis to attend the White House dinner. 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.

“This is a time for answers,” Thompson said in a statement Monday. “This is not the time for political games or scapegoating to distract our attention from the careful oversight we must apply to the Secret Service and its mission.”

Some lawmakers have called for criminal charges to be brought against the couple, but the Secret Service has not yet decided whether to refer the case for criminal prosecution.

The Secret Service declined to comment on whether Sullivan would testify Thursday.

The couple’s publicist, Mahogany Jones, could not immediately be reached for comment about whether the Salahis would testify Thursday. But earlier Monday, she said allegations that the Salahis were shopping interviews and demanding money from television networks to tell their story are false.

A TV executive who spoke on condition of anonymity to publicly discuss bookings told The Associated Press that the couple’s representatives had urged networks to “get their bids in” for an interview.

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Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

KABUL – Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama discussed the new U.S. policy for Afghanistan during an hour-long video conference call Tuesday morning, a spokesman for the presidential palace said.

The video conference came ahead of Obama’s planned speech Tuesday night at the U.S. Military Academy West Point, N.Y., where he will outline a new U.S. war plan and dispatch between 30,000 and 35,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. Karzai’s office says the two leaders discussed in detail the security, political, military and economic aspects of the strategy.

The call was one of several Obama was making to world leaders, including Asif Ali Zardari, the president of neighboring Pakistan.

Obama’s war escalation includes sending more American forces into Afghanistan in a graduated deployment over the next year. They will join the 71,000 U.S. troops already on the ground. Obama’s new war strategy also includes renewed focus on training Afghan forces to take over the fight and allow the Americans to leave.

Obama also is expected to explain why he believes the U.S. must continue to fight more than eight years after the war was started following the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida terrorists based in Afghanistan.

This has been the deadliest year of the conflict for U.S. forces, with nearly 300 killed. Casualties started climbing soon after Obama decided to deploy an additional 21,000 U.S. troops as part of his plan to refocus on the Afghan war.

NATO forces have also posted a higher death toll in 2009 than in any previous year, with more than 500 killed. In the latest casualty, a British service member was killed by a bomb Monday, the international military coalition said in a statement.

Obama will emphasize that Afghan security forces need more time, more schooling and more U.S. combat backup to be up to the job on their own, and he will make tougher demands on the governments of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan.

In the capital of Kabul, some Afghans said they were worried that the troop increase was too much like an occupation — a scenario particularly worrisome to Afghans who still remember living through an oppressive Soviet regime.

“Afghans do not like any interference of foreigners into their affairs, especially in military affairs,” said Bershna Nadery, a thick-set woman in a black headscarf who works for the Afghan Finance Ministry.

Nadery said she was worried that more troops would make life more dangerous for Afghans.

“When they increase the troops, the Taliban will respond by increasing their attacks on the foreigners. But that will not only be against the foreigners, it will be against Afghan civilians who live in the same area,” Nadery said.

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Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report from Kabul.

KABUL – Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama discussed the new U.S. policy for Afghanistan during an hour-long video conference call Tuesday morning, a spokesman for the presidential palace said.

The video conference came ahead of Obama’s planned speech Tuesday night at the U.S. Military Academy West Point, N.Y., where he will outline a new U.S. war plan and dispatch between 30,000 and 35,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. Karzai’s office says the two leaders discussed in detail the security, political, military and economic aspects of the strategy.

The call was one of several Obama was making to world leaders, including Asif Ali Zardari, the president of neighboring Pakistan.

Obama’s war escalation includes sending more American forces into Afghanistan in a graduated deployment over the next year. They will join the 71,000 U.S. troops already on the ground. Obama’s new war strategy also includes renewed focus on training Afghan forces to take over the fight and allow the Americans to leave.

Obama also is expected to explain why he believes the U.S. must continue to fight more than eight years after the war was started following the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida terrorists based in Afghanistan.

This has been the deadliest year of the conflict for U.S. forces, with nearly 300 killed. Casualties started climbing soon after Obama decided to deploy an additional 21,000 U.S. troops as part of his plan to refocus on the Afghan war.

NATO forces have also posted a higher death toll in 2009 than in any previous year, with more than 500 killed. In the latest casualty, a British service member was killed by a bomb Monday, the international military coalition said in a statement.

Obama will emphasize that Afghan security forces need more time, more schooling and more U.S. combat backup to be up to the job on their own, and he will make tougher demands on the governments of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan.

In the capital of Kabul, some Afghans said they were worried that the troop increase was too much like an occupation — a scenario particularly worrisome to Afghans who still remember living through an oppressive Soviet regime.

“Afghans do not like any interference of foreigners into their affairs, especially in military affairs,” said Bershna Nadery, a thick-set woman in a black headscarf who works for the Afghan Finance Ministry.

Nadery said she was worried that more troops would make life more dangerous for Afghans.

“When they increase the troops, the Taliban will respond by increasing their attacks on the foreigners. But that will not only be against the foreigners, it will be against Afghan civilians who live in the same area,” Nadery said.

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Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report from Kabul.