Gatecrashers met Obama, Secret Service ‘embarrassed’

The two aspiring reality TV stars who gatecrashed a State dinner this week met President Barack Obama at the event, a White House photograph released on Friday showed.The US Secret Service meanwhile issued an unusual mea culpa for the security lapse Tuesday at the White House State Dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with director Mark Sullivan admitting the agency was “embarrassed” by the incident.The photo released by the White House showed a smiling Obama greeting the allegedly uninvited couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, at a reception line at the event. Singh is seen standing next to Obama.

The president has ordered a full review of the incident, according to the Politico news website, citing an Obama aide.An internal Secret Service investigation is ongoing.The pair beat several layers of security to attend the dinner, and Sullivan acknowledged Friday that according to an agency probe, protocols were not followed at a security checkpoint to verify if the couple was invited.

“The Secret Service is deeply concerned and embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding the State Dinner,” Sullivan said in a statement.The Salahis boasted of turning up at the A-list event on their joint Facebook page with the message “honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!”Sporting a black dinner jacket and a flowing red and gold sari respectively, the couple posted photos posing with Vice President Joe Biden, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel whom they mistakenly identified as “Ron Emanuel” and even three uniformed marines.

-AFP