WEDNESDAY
The Secret Service announces it is looking into its security procedures after determining that a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, slipped into Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list.
The breach was revealed after media inquiries to the White House prompted by Michaele Salahi's Facebook boasts (and photos) of rubbing shoulders with Vice President Joe Biden, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and others at Washington's most exclusive social event this year.
THURSDAY
The cable TV channel Bravo reveals Michaele Salahi is a contender to be on its upcoming series "The Real Housewives of D.C." and the cable channel was filming her all day Tuesday in preparation for the state dinner, to which she told Bravo she had been invited.
NBC news anchor Brian Williams, a guest at the dinner, reports that he saw the Salahis arrive at the East Gate of the White House and that the couple's vehicle was turned away, adding, "Actually the first ring of Secret Service security had worked."
The Secret Service investigation focuses on a checkpoint that did not follow proper procedure to ensure the couple were on the invited guest list. The couple gained entry at the East Gate through a pedestrian entrance.
A congressional investigation was called for. "The next time it will be a far worse reality than a reality TV," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.
FRIDAY
The White House reports that the Salahis came face-to-face with President Obama and his wife, Michelle, in a receiving line at the state dinner.
"Deeply concerned and embarrassed," says Mark Sullivan, director of the Secret Service, about his agency's failings. "Although these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely," Sullivan said. "That failing is ours."
