My Thoughts on State Dinner Crashers
05. Jan, 2010 
8 Comments
Tareq and Michaele Salahi with Ambassador Singh
Tareq and Michaele Salahi with Ambassador Singh
I would like to share these articles with my readers:
Talking Points Memo- Did The Alleged Third Crasher Know The Salahis? – January 5, 2009
Politico – Alleged third crasher denies report – January 5, 2009
Gawker - Meet The Third White House State Dinner Crasher - January 5, 2009
Famous DC – AskMissA Called Party Crasher Out Weeks Ago: Carlos Allen - January 4, 2010
Apparently, Carlos Allen is still denying that he attended the State Dinner. I wrote last month that he began denying that he attended, and took down all evidence on Facebook after the Salahi’s got busted. AskMissA.com’s Sanam Toossi first reported that Carlos Allen attended the State Dinner back in November, but this didn’t seem odd to us until early December when we started hearing rumors and confirmed that Carlos was not on the official guest list. It seems Politico has found another attendee of Hush Society’s Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Drive — Nicole Almodovar, who confirms that Carlos Allen was telling volunteers that he had been to the State Dinner the night before. According to the Washington Post’s Reliable Source, the State Department, whose Office of Protocol appears to have escorted the individual onto the White House grounds in a van along with members of the Indian government delegation.
Now that I know this, I have to say, it’s looking more like the Indian Embassy was duped or “conned” into helping Tareq and Michaele Salahi and Carlos Allen get into the State Dinner. I can’t imagine that Carlos would have known where the Indian delegation was being picked up, or to move comfortably with the group and get on the State Department’s van without someone from the Indian Embassy or State Department having his back. This may seem strange to those outside Washington, but in my opinion, it’s sadly not that difficult. Elite Washingtonians interact with Ambassadors all the time in the name of charity. The Salahi’s were able to con Washington’s Business community, DC’s “High Society” so it’s not a stretch that they were able to pull one over on the Diplomatic community. It’s often the secretly leveraged ostentatious display of the cliche trappings of wealth, being at all the “right events,” name-dropping, and photos of a person with politicians or celebrities that give credibility and status to the untrained observer.
As I wrote right after the Salahi’s Gate-Crashing story broke, this isn’t about crashing the State Dinner to go to a fun event.This isn’t about getting a reality show. This is not “balloon boy” 2.0. The Salahi’s have a spot on Real Housewives of DC — it’s just not official and hasn’t been announced yet. This was all done for money. The Salahi’s needed photos to mislead the general public about their ties to the White House and the government of India for their America’s Cup of Polo – USA vs. India in June 2010:
Speaking of taking photos with celebrities to gain legitimacy. Not only did Tareq and Michaele allegedly lie to Federal
Tareq and Michaele Salahi with Prince Charles
officials to gain access to the State Dinner, but they were snapping photos like a tourist at Disney World while they were there. They are smooth operators. Those photos weren’t taken just to “FaceBrag”. I would bet that they were taken with the intent to mislead the general public about the nature of their upcoming USA vs. India polo match, in the same way that photos taken with Prince Charles led the public to believe the Queen of England would attend USA vs. England. In my opinion, they want ticket purchasers to think that they are really on a mission to have a “cultural exchange” with India and that they are working closely with the Indian government. They also want the general public to assume that the people in the photos are supporting their cause, their event, and may actually show up.
To me this whole party crashing is much more than that. To me, it is a alleged felony intrusion of the White House with an alleged attempt to mislead and deceive the general public for their own personal gain. You see, they claim to hold the America’s Cup for their Journey for the Cure Foundation which chooses charity partners to benefit each year. Innocents at Risk was supposedly one of the partner charities for the 2009 America’s Cup of Polo. Since I was doing event planning and other work for Innocents at Risk, I had to “make nice” and attend the America’s Cup of Polo on behalf of Innocents at Risk. I was extremely skeptical, and warned Innocents at Risk about the Salahi’s. As far as I know, Innocents at Risk never received money from the foundation aside from Tareq and Michaele using the charity’s credit card to attend a fundraiser. As a matter of fact, Innocents at Risk was asked to pay $2500 America’s Cup to attend the event! The State of Virginia has warned the public about the Salahi’s Journey for the Cure Foundation. Allegedly, The Salahi’s were even able to dupe Loudoun County, Virginia into giving them $136,500 of hard-earned tax-payer dollars. You can check out the spin they used to convince the county. Many event vendors have not been paid including Market Salamander catering, which is owned by Sheila Johnson, Billionaire co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET) who has filed a lawsuit for over $300,000 in damages.
Bravo knew what they were doing when they selected Michaele Salahi for Real Housewives of DC. However, I think the best drama occurs off camera. I’m not sure if charity in other major cities is this scandalous, but I swear I could write a book. The Salahi’s have hurt a number of people in Virginia and D.C., and many of us are glad to see that they were finally outed for their poor behavior. I only hope that the federal authorities dig a little deeper, and see what is really going on here is much more than party crashing. In my mind, it’s likely charity fraud.
- Miss A
As another commenter pointed out, at one time you wrote “I know my readers don’t come to Askmissa.com for Washington gossip, so from now on, come what may, I will not address any of this nonsense publicly. Many in our community are facing lay off’s, home foreclosures and other serious issues. Tonight I am attending a fundraiser to help a precious little girl who has fought cancer most of her life. I think that puts this ridiculous drama into perspective. I don’t need to bring any additional negativity into the lives of my readers.- Miss A”. When the other commenter pointed this out on your first post about the Salahis, you responded by saying: “I did write that about the Blonde Charity Mafia drama. I feel obligated to share my take on the Salahi’s”.
Yet you keep writing about this ridiculous nonsense. This is no longer about the Salahis, you have no connection or history with Mr. Allen. Whatever he has done in his personal life or in the case of this State Dinner, the only story here is a the (possible) breache in White House security. The rest is gossip, negativity and rumor… Not very classy. Not at all positive.
This is actually a very big deal and belongs on this blog. The material breach of the White House security may seem like “ridiculous nonsense” to many who do not work everyday (or even know) people who use phrases such as “copy that” and “go to secure” in regular conversation, but it’s a major “ass pucker” moment for many in the Nation’s Capital. From someone who’s watched an airplane go into the Pentagon from his apartment window, and witnessing the aftermath of having fully armed Humvee’s on K Street (and who’s seen the chaos and carnage of African and sub-Asian capitals after a hit on senior leadership), this is about as serious as it gets here. So while I wish we could avoid this “rumor” and “gossip” issue, Annoyed, it’s much more serious than “ponies for dollars.”
Another thing is that many of us in the DC area know people in certain social, fundraising and business circles. While I don’t mind parting with my finances for Gold Cup, Courage Cup, or Blondes vs Brunettes, what I do strongly object to is contributing money to a false pretense enterprise. Call a spade a spade, but there are many well heeled, high fallutin, well-educated people who thought they were contributing to some great charitable causes only to find out that their funds have been used for, say, a NY state election PAC. Yes, we want to hear these things. It’s impacted the way fundraising, charities, and even events sponsorships are now being scrutinized.
I agree, this story needs to be told, and by Miss A. Everyone is fixated on the reality show, where Miss A actually addresses a more likely motive. The Salahi’s only want the reality show to boost their DC standings – it isn’t an end in itself. They are no balloon boys. Keep highlighting this Andrea. Thanks!
maybe you should check the facts before you start including peoples names and credibility in your gossip blog….. thanks
I have a feeling, “Annoyed” above is either Mr. or Mrs Salahi or Mr Allen!
As someone living outside of Washington DC and no where near it’s social scenes definitely appreciate the thought on this blog on these despicable couple which extends to the 3rd, 4th crasher. Good job on your blog, I enjoy it tramendously and don’t let the ‘NEGATIVE” comments from trailer trash clan distract you. Thanks.
I saw this story on Sante and Kenneth Kimes on tv the other day and couldn’t help but notice the resemblence to the Salahis. Sante Kimes is a life long con artist tangled in 4 murders and endless scams, theft, and arson. She and her son is serving life sentence for the crimes they have committed. Here is a link to the couple con-artist, who crashed into meet the President and took pictures with the First couple for their scam project..
http://new.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/kimes/9.html
Another instances of people who con for life, lie their way into relationships for their big scam. There are certain people who try to belittle issues like this, saying that everyone crashes parties. But not only do I think our moral standard is at risk, but people’s lives could be at risk as well, if we let things like this just pass by as if it is nothing. Sante Kime I think is a perfect example of that. I know it could be a far fetched and harsh comparison but I can’t help but find resemblance in them. I have no doubt that by revealing the con-artist couple for who they are, saved alot of people from being conned again, or perhaps even murder! Small times scammers like the Salahis needs to be revealed for who they really are so that people are aware of their tricks.