Casey Johnson's Troubled Life; Tila Tequila's Prank!

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Casey Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Heiress, Dies In Los Angeles



Jets owner Woody Johnson's troubled daughter Casey, who was battling drugs and alcohol, was found dead Monday in her California home.

The body of the 30-year-old socialite, whose worried parents had cut off her trust fund in an act of tough love, was discovered by her maid.

"She's dead!" the woman screamed as she ran from Johnson's West Hollywood pad just before noon, neighbors told E! Online. Cops said they don't suspect foul play.

"A toxicology [investigation] will be pending through the coroner's office," said LAPD spokeswoman Sara Faden.

Johnson's father, who had just celebrated the Jets' triumphant wild card berth in the NFL playoffs Sunday night, is devastated.

"The Johnson family is mourning its tragic loss and asks for privacy during this very difficult time," a spokesman for the heir to the Johnson & Johnson empire said.

Casey Johnson, who was a lesbian, recently announced her engagement to bisexual reality TV star Tila Tequila, 28, in an online video. Both appeared in nothing more than their bras and panties.

The pair was later photographed by paparazzi kissing in public and showing off the 17-carat diamond ring Johnson slipped onto Tequila's finger.

Monday night, a heartbroken Tequila confirmed her lover's death on Twitter, in a note dotted with texting shorthand: "Everyone please pray 4 my Wifey Casey Johnson," Tequila wrote. "She has passed away."

Johnson's demise punctuates the life of an upper East Side rich girl, who grew up in the lap of luxury and was pals of Paris and Nicky Hilton, the godmother of Johnson's adopted daughter.

"I've known Casey since I was a baby," Paris Hilton told Life & Style magazine. "She had a big heart and she was a good friend. I feel so sad, I don't want to believe it. My condolences go out to her family and loved ones."

Partied too hard

Casey moved to Los Angeles eight years ago and quickly became fodder for gossip columns as the hard-partying heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune.

She battled drug and alcohol addictions and failed numerous rehab stints. She was also diagnosed with juvenile diabetes as a little girl, a friend told the Daily News.

"Of course, the drinking and drug-taking didn't help," said the friend. "She was active in raising public awareness about juvenile diabetes. But, she abused her own body."

The friend said Casey's parents were at a loss as to how to help straighten her life out.

"They supported her lifestyle for a long time, but, lately, they'd been keeping their distance from her, trying to show some tough love," the friend said. "But I'm sure they're devastated and racked with guilt."

In a 2007 interview, Johnson sounded like she was turning her life around, announcing she had founded a skin care line called Journey.

She also discussed her adoption of a daughter, Ava, now 3, from Kazakhstan early in 2007.

Johnson told LXTV that she was determined not to spoil her daughter like she was as a child.

"When she gets to be like 8, 9, 10, 11 years old, and she says, 'Mommy, I want this,' she's not going to get everything she wants," Johnson said.

"I did growing up, and when it was my turn to handle my own money it became a problem," she said. "I'm used to going to Bergdorf's and having a personal shopper, and buying whatever I want and charging it to my dad."

A friend said Johnson's life seemed to be spiraling out of control after her mother, Sale, took custody of her daughter to "get her out of harm's way."

She came to New York recently to battle to get her daughter back, but was hampered by finances that were in shambles.

Her father recently cut off her trust fund because she couldn't sober up, friends said.

"She was a lost little girl who just wanted to be loved," AOL's Popeater columnist Rob Shuter, who had lunch with Casey about eight months ago, told The News.

"She had a difficult relationship with her family's huge wealth. She loved the life it gave her, but it also made everything she did feel worthless," Shuter said.

"She once described her family money as the 'golden handcuffs.' She was the ultimate little, lost rich girl," he said.

Trouble with the Law

In November, Casey was arrested on grand theft charges, accused of breaking into the Hollywood apartment of her ex-girlfriend, fashion model Jasmine Lennard.

"I tried to get her off drugs and alcohol," Lennard recently said in a published report. "I tried to get her into a 12-step program. I tried to help take care of her daughter. I've given her money."

Friends and neighbors of Woody Johnson at his home on Columbus Circle expressed shock at the death of a young woman who seemingly had all the privileges of wealth.

"She's a wonderful woman and she'll be dearly missed," a family friend said Monday night. "It's a horrible loss."

Another family friend, Suzanne Webster, called Casey "a sweet but troubled girl."

"Her family was concerned over her well-being the past year," Webster said. "She had given them pause with her behavior, but I don't think anyone expected this."



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Sources: AP, NY Daily News, MSNBC, Youtube, Google Maps

Ivana Trump Goes Beserk On Plane! Kicked Off Flight 2377

Socialite Ivana Trump Kicked Off An Airliner After Foul-Mouthed Tirade At Noisy Children


Socialite Ivana Trump had to be escorted off a plane after launching a foul-mouthed tirade at noisy children.

The former wife of billionaire property mogul Donald Trump started screaming the F-word as several excited youngsters ran up and down the first-class aisle.

The grandmother of one became even angrier as flight attendants tried to calm her down, allegedly rushing towards the cockpit.

When the pilot asked her to leave the New York-bound flight before take-off, the hysterical Miss Trump refused to budge.

The former Olympic skier and model, 60 - who split from her much younger fourth husband this month - was eventually 'physically escorted' back to the terminal by security guards, officials said.

'From the initial contact until Miss Trump left the property, she was saying "f*** you" to all the deputies and called the children "little f******",' said a police spokesman.

'She was so belligerent towards other passengers and crew that the plane returned to the terminal.'

She had apparently started complaining as soon as she boarded the aircraft, demanding to be moved to another seat in first class.

At first she was said to have put on a set of headphones to block out the noise, but a crying baby sent her over the edge.

Passenger Vincent Cone said: 'She was swearing at the baby.

'The reason she got so upset was the children and she started screaming, "I want to go back home".

'The pilots asked her to leave and she sat back down and refused to leave. Then they went and got a security guy. She kept saying, "Let go of me!".

'Everyone was leaning into the aisle, trying to get a good look, saying how crazy she was and how annoyed they were at how she was delaying the flight.'

The ruckus meant the Delta-Northwest flight from Palm Beach, Florida, was postponed for two hours.

Miss Trump was not charged with any crime, however, and although the FBI was informed about the incident on Saturday, an investigation was not launched.

Her Italian husband, Rossano Rubicondi, 37, was said to be in Europe at the time that Miss Trump announced she was ending their 20-month marriage.

She said they had struggled to find time to get together while he mainly worked and lived in Italy and she was busy with hotel and resort development projects around the world.

Her spokesman was not available for comment last night.





Ivana Trump Removed From PBIA Flight



One of Palm Beach's most famous residents was forced off a flight Saturday afternoon after the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office says she became belligerent and aggrevated towards other passengers, including children.

Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump, was on Delta flight 2377 headed to New York when law enforcement says they had to physically remove her from the flight.

According to the Sheriff's Department, the pilot told them he got a call of a disturbance in first class after the plane pushed back from the gate at Palm Beach International and was headed towards the runway. The pilot made the decision to head back to the gate.

A press release from the Sheriff's Department says Trump was upset about children running up and down the aisle screaming and began using profanity about them.

Once the plane arrived back at the gate law enforcement was called. According to the Sheriff's Department the 60-year-old Trump was offered another seat and headphones by the flight crew.

According to the Sheriff's Department Trump then got "more Belligerent".

Sheriff's deputies said they verbally asked Trump to leave the flight when they arrived on the scene but she refused.

After several additional attempts deputies physically escorted Trump to the passenger waiting area inside the terminal where she was given the opportunity to reschedule her flight.

According to the Sheriff's Department the FBI was notified and declined to proceed further with the case.

Last week, Trump made news when she announced she was splitting up with her 4th husband Rossano Rubicondi.



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Sources: Daily Mail, WPBF, MSNBC, AP, Google Maps

"Leave Desiree Rogers Alone!" Warns Obama White House...Chicago's Elite & Powerful

Rep. Peter King spoke his mind this morning during Homeland Security Committee Hearings. He wasn't too happy about White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers not being allowed to testify reason cited "Separation of Power".





Valerie Jarrett discusses Obama's Job Summit. She also defends the Obama White House's decision not to allow Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify on Capitol Hill.

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White House to Rogers's critics: Back off


If White House social secretary Desiree Rogers survives this week's withering attacks over her role in last week's state dinner security breach, she'll have gotten by with a lot of help from her friends in the West Wing.

As a House committee opened hearings Thursday on how two uninvited partygoers were able to enter the White House grounds and shake hands with President Barack Obama, top presidential aides delivered a clear message to critics of this favored staffer: Back off.

In a White House not known for its tolerance of staffing errors, Rogers has been the beneficiary of an unprecedented show of support from senior administration officials. A former corporate executive from Chicago, Rogers has known the Obamas for more than a decade and seems blessed with a status that may shield her from the fate of departing White House counsel Greg Craig or Louis Caldera, the Military Office head who was canned for a botched Air Force One photo op.

Rogers's office starting taking heat last week after it was reported that the White House did not station staff members at the security checkpoint to help the Secret Service screen guests at the state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as has been customary in previous administrations. When the House Homeland Security Committee invited Rogers to testify about how Tareq and Michaele Salahi managed to reach Obama unimpeded, the White House declined to make Rogers available and said its internal report on the incident would suffice.

"We think we've answered the questions fully," senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, a close friend of Rogers from Chicago, said on ABC News on Thursday. "We think it's important to have a balance and have the White House staff able to have confidential conversations with the president and his team without appearing before Congress."

For the second day in a row, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the administration had no intention of making Rogers available for lawmakers' questions, brushing off the charge by Rep Peter King (R-N.Y.), the Homeland Security committee’s ranking member, that the administration was "stonewalling" the congressional probe.

"There's, I think, a pretty long history of ensuring that White House staff can provide advice to the president and do so confidentially," Gibbs said.

Acknowledging that White House staff members have testified at congressional hearings before, Gibbs said the current probe should not require a level of cooperation reminiscent of investigations into the Watergate and Whitewater scandals or the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"I don't think even Peter King would have the audacity to, in some way, put the Salahis in the trifecta of Watergate, 9/11 or some of the financial dealings," Gibbs said. "If that's the case, then maybe I have been here and just haven't quite seen it all."

Though an internal White House report unveiled by deputy chief of staff Jim Messina on Wednesday concluded staffers "did not do everything we could have done to assist the United States Secret Service" at the state dinner, Gibbs also offered a strong endorsement of Rogers in his Wednesday briefing.

"The first family is quite pleased with her performance," Gibbs said.

The unequivocal statement of support contrasted sharply with the White House's treatment of other staffers who have stumbled on the job. While Rogers isn't the first White House aide to take hits from the Hill, she may be the first to do so with such ferocious support from her superiors.

When Caldera, a former Army secretary, created a media firestorm last spring by authorizing an Air Force One flyover of lower Manhattan, there was no similar sympathy.

"Mr. Caldera took responsibility for this. I think it's been characterized that the president was furious upon learning of this decision," Gibbs said on April 28, dooming Caldera for an incident analogous to last week's security breach in its freakishness and its unsettling resonance in the post-Sept. 11 era.

This fall, when speculation grew that Craig might be on his way out as White House counsel, Gibbs offered only carefully parsed support for the embattled lawyer, telling a reporter who asked if Obama had confidence in his counsel: "Greg Craig is in the president's office every day as part of a small group of senior advisers that meet with him daily."

Even if it's breaking internal precedent, the administration's pushback against Rogers's critics hasn't convinced all members of Congress that the social secretary was clear of blame in last week's security lapse, however. The vice chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), told POLITICO on Thursday she was troubled by the apparent oversight by White House staff.

"It's always been my experience that the White House — either social division or legislative division, in the case of when Congress people are coming — are always at the front gate," Sanchez said, adding that she had not yet reviewed the White House's internal report. "I mean, come on, even Wal-Mart has a greeter."

And while the White House expressed doubt that King would keep up his assault on Rogers's performance, the outspoken New Yorker showed no sign of rhetorical retreat in the House hearing.

Calling Rogers's absence "an affront to our committee," King declared: "For our committee to work with the White House, there had to be an element of trust. They have breached that trust."

King and other conservatives also continued raising questions about the legitimacy of the White House's argument that Rogers's attendance at a hearing would violate the separation of powers. The social secretary's job, they said, does not involve the kind of confidential and sensitive relationship with the president that previous administrations have cited to block staff testimony.

"It's essentially saying that anybody who works at the White House is immune from being compelled to testify in front of Congress, which is much further than we ever went," said Bill Burck, a former deputy White House counsel under President George W. Bush. "It doesn't make a lot of sense to me as a principled decision."

But despite some members' frustration with the White House reticence, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) announced Thursday he would not approve a subpoena to compel testimony from Rogers, whom Thompson said he viewed as a secondary player in the incident.

If the White House's citation of separation of powers rankled some, the move is not without defenders.

Jack Quinn, who served as White House counsel during the Clinton administration, said the White House was justified in preventing Rogers's testimony, arguing: "The separation of powers issue is real, and it is important."

"As for Ms. Rogers," he added, "I do not know her, but I do know that it is not her job to ensure the security of the White House and the president. What went amiss at the state dinner should not be laid at her doorstep or that of her staff."






Desiree Rogers's unwanted new guest: Scrutiny

On the night of the Obamas' first state dinner, White House social secretary Desirée Rogers glided past the rope line of press and photographers at 6:53 p.m., pausing to boast, "We are very excited . . . everything looks great." Little did she know that the evening would end up tarnishing her vaunted reputation as an overachieving perfectionist.

Virginia socialites Michaele and Tareq Salahi managed to get past Secret Service, proceed into the dinner -- uninvited, the White House says -- and pose for pictures with VIP guests and shake hands with the president. Now questions have been raised over whether Rogers, whose office drew up the guest list, was so busy basking in the limelight that she failed to notice what was unfolding in the shadows.

On Thursday, a House committee wants answers from her about how this could happen. A key question: Was anyone from Rogers's office staffing the front gate? Even though Secret Service has accepted full responsibility for the security lapse, Rogers also has indicated that none of her staff was present when the Salahis arrived. As a result, her managerial style is under scrutiny. And her Hollywood persona, fairly or unfairly, could prove to be the most damning evidence of all.

Rogers -- the point person for the high-profile, high-security, high-stakes diplomatic gala for the Indian prime minister -- was dressed in a pale peach gown from the avant-garde Japanese design house Comme des Garcons. It was the sort of attention-getting dress, with its translucent sleeves and strands of pearls encased in layers of tulle, that proclaimed the wearer a fashion savant.

"Just because she has this job, it's not going to make her a worker bee," says a friend who did not want to be identified in order not to offend. "She's glamorous."

That Tuesday night, everything seemed to go off without a hitch. The day's rain had ended and the mist dissipated. The tent, which was actually an elegant pavilion, was breathtaking with chandeliers and enormous urns brimming with magnolia branches. The table settings -- granny-apple green and violet -- were romantic. And the entertainment -- the National Symphony Orchestra, Jennifer Hudson, A.R. Rahman -- went over big, with Hudson even receiving a standing ovation. The worst complaint seemed to be that the evening went on a bit too long, with the president's toast coming nearly an hour late. Still, it seemed as though Rogers, in her first grueling, high-pressure test as social secretary, had passed with flying colors.

"Desirée is very exacting, very detail-oriented. She absolutely knows how to entertain in an elegant, classy fashion. She definitely know what she's doing," says her friend Judith Byrd.

Although the state dinner was Rogers's responsibility, with its myriad moving parts, she was on the official guest list, along with other Obama intimates from Chicago, such as her ex-husband John Rogers, Marty Nesbitt and his wife, Anita Blanchard. Instead of remaining behind the scenes, like a discreet stage director, Desirée Rogers had a seat at the most exclusive dinner in town. She was not the first social secretary to be seated at a state dinner, although others typically pulled up a chair only after they'd mastered the role.

"Having observed Desirée that evening, she sat for a total of about five minutes," says Capricia Marshall, former Clinton social secretary and now the U.S. chief of protocol. "She worked around the clock; she did what she needed to do."

But this was the Obama administration's debut. And it was particularly complicated to pull off. The event had been moved from the State Dining Room, which holds about 130 people, to the tent, which could accommodate nearly 400. Rogers might have been confident, but she was not an old hand.

In recent years, social secretaries had always quashed their own public profiles, demurred from seeking the limelight, in service to their position and in deference to the first lady. Indeed, the names of the most recent social secretaries -- Cathy Fenton, Lea Berman and Amy Zantzinger probably ring no bells outside of Washington circles. Those who have more prominent profiles such as Ann Stock, who worked in the Clinton administration and now at the Kennedy Center, and Letitia Baldridge of the Kennedy years, waited until their post-White House years to step into the spotlight.

No one with a clipboard and walkie-talkie was standing sentry at the southeast gate when the Salahis arrived, identifying themselves as guests, according to the White House. Such velvet-rope vigilance is common everywhere from third-tier nightclubs to Seventh Avenue fashion shows and celebrity-drenched parties. And there's the matter of former White House staffer Cathy Hargraves, who predated the Obamas as in-house guest-list guru and abruptly quit in June, according to Newsweek, because she had been stripped of much of her responsibility by Rogers.

There was a new social sheriff in town and, for better or worse, she was one like no other.

The 50-year-old Rogers arrived in Washington this year to great fanfare, no small amount of it of her own making. She entered the East Wing in a whirlwind of media exposure. She was featured in the glossy pages of Vogue -- beating the first lady's appearance in the fashion bible by a month. For a profile in WSJ, the Wall Street Journal's slick magazine, stylists outfitted Rogers in luxury fashions from Prada and Jil Sander and she posed in the first lady's garden tossing a flirtatious smile over her shoulder.

Early in her tenure, Rogers made a trip to New York City during February's fashion week. She sat in the front row of runway shows such as Donna Karan and smiled for the flock of photographers who descended on the striking Obama gatekeeper with her pixie cut, stylish wardrobe and high-altitude heels. She dabbled in a world of hipsters and art scene know-it-alls in her attempt to bring a contemporary gleam to the White House. And she seemed to thrive on all the attention. She has come across as a big-picture manager, not one focused on details.

That's in contrast to her reputation at Peoples Energy. There, says her former boss Thomas Patrick, she was so intent on learning the customer relations business from the ground up that she put on a hard hat and went out into the field with the workers who managed the pipes.

None of this was surprising to longtime friends who knew her from her Chicago days, when she was a mover and shaker in the city's high-culture society circles, and who worried that Rogers was putting herself out in front of the public too fast and too furiously. They warned her of the ways of Washington, its desire for discretion, and urged to keep her profile low. In the nation's capital, no one need know whether the social secretary wore Nina Ricci or Halston, just that she was appropriately clothed.

But Rogers has never been an introvert. The New Orleans native has waved to the crowds from a perch atop a Mardi Gras float. In Chicago, she was known for her eclectic mix of guests at her dazzling parties. She has stood up to dance by herself in cocktail bars, as friends sat by and watched in amusement. She is a coquettish life-of-the-party.

She came to the White House having known the Obamas for two decades, an introduction precipitated by her ex-husband, who played basketball with Craig Robinson, the first lady's brother. Desirée Rogers was a prolific fundraiser for Obama's presidential campaign and had donated to his Senate run, though she did not contribute to his early campaigns for the Illinois state legislature.

Of all those inside the Obama inner circle, she is closest to Valerie Jarrett. Rogers, Jarrett and Linda Johnson Rice of Johnson Publishing, which owns Ebony magazine, were the three musketeers in Chicago, profiled by a local magazine as a fearsome threesome. It's the connection to Jarrett that is Rogers's protective cocoon as she straddles the line between the East Wing and the West.

"All this talk about Desirée being lifelong friends with the Obamas is bunk. She's there because of Valerie," says someone who has known Rogers for years but didn't want to be identified so as not to upset her.

Rogers is having to negotiate a new relationship with the Obamas, one made difficult by her own heat-seeking personality. She arrived at the White House as a friend and peer of the first couple. But her own social stature and wealth exceeded that of the Obamas for many years. Long before their ascent, she was a star in Chicago society, running with the city's elite.

"She and her former husband, and then she alone, were very important social figures in Chicago. She belonged to all of the A-list clubs and charities and certainly had a great understanding of how that world operated," says Patrick, retired chairman of Peoples Energy. "She was my tutor in that world."

The Obamas were the nice couple from the South Side. She was a cut above. And now she has a job in which she is expected to serve at their pleasure.



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Sources: Politico, Washington Post, MSNBC, Morning Joe, Youtube, Google Maps

Biden Thought Sahalis Were Officially Invited To WH State Dinner Too

Biden on photo with Salahis. Vice President Biden talks to TODAY’s Meredith Vieira about meeting alleged White House crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi at last week’s dinner, saying they appeared to be part of the Washington, D.C., social set.

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Sources: MSNBC, Today Show

Secret Service Didn't Clear Obama State Dinner "Party Crashers"...I Wonder Why

Brian Williams: 'Security couldn't have been tighter'. The NBC News anchor and his wife, Jane, were among the invited guests at the White House dinner and realized they had seen the couple trying to enter.

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Source: Secret Service agent didn't check couple



A Secret Service employee stationed at the first checkpoint at the White House state dinner last Tuesday did not verify the names of a couple allowed in even though they were not on the guest list, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News on Friday.

The source also confirmed what two White House staff sources earlier told NBC News, that Tareq and Michaele Salahi were not "waved in" or had their names manually entered into the White House computer to gain entry.

The Secret Service, for its part, said Friday that it might begin a criminal investigation against the Virginia couple.

Agency spokesman Jim Mackin said the possible turn toward criminal charges is one reason the Secret Service has kept mum about what happened when the Salahis arrived at the security checkpoint. They were not on the guest list for the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Nobody disputes that the two, candidates for a reality TV show, were allowed through security. The Secret Service acknowledges that its procedures weren't followed.

Still unknown is the story that the uninvited guests spun to the security officers that persuaded them to allow the couple through. That likely would play a role in any criminal charges.

"As this moves closer to a criminal investigation there's less that we can say," Mackin said. "I don't want to jeopardize what could be a criminal investigation. We're not leaving any option off the table at this point."

Salahis' Lawyer: "Clients Cleared by the White House"

It was not immediately clear what charges would be pursued. The Salahis lawyer, Paul Gardner, posted a comment on their Facebook page saying, "My clients were cleared by the White House, to be there."

He said more information would be forthcoming.

Attempts to reach Gardner on Friday were not immediately successful.

Michaele Salahi's hairdresser at the Georgetown salon where she scheduled a last-minute appointment hours before the dinner said she asked to look at the invitation to the White House event, but never saw it.

"She was so excited. She told me that she got it in the mail and it was just an amazing feeling and they couldn't wait and in fact they called the White House, I believe, to make sure that she was going to be dressed appropriately," Peggy Ioakim told CBS' "The Early Show" on Friday. Salahi wore a red sari to the dinner.

Bravo Media, meanwhile, confirmed that on the day of the dinner Michaele Salahi was being filmed around Washington and while she prepared for the dinner by a film crew connected with the network's reality show, "The Real Housewives of D.C.," because she is being considered for the upcoming TV program.

"Half Yard's cameras were not inside the White House. They filmed the couple preparing for the event," Johanna Fuentes, Bravo Media's vice president, communications, said in an e-mail late Thursday. She said the Salahis "informed Half Yard that they were invited (to the dinner), the producers had no reason to believe otherwise."

Fuentes referred further questions to the couple's lawyer and their publicist.

The White House refused comment on the Salahis and referred all calls to the Secret Service.

Author: "They could have killed President"

Ronald Kessler, author of a book on the Secret Service, said, "While the couple did pass through a magnetometer to detect weapons, they could have assassinated the president or vice president using other means — anthrax, for example." He added the Secret Service would not detect secreted biological weapons.

Kessler, a journalist, wrote "In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect."

The author added that it's unlikely the Secret Service performed the usual background check to ensure that the crashers were not possible threats.

"The party crashers could have had outstanding arrest warrants for murder. They could have been involved with terrorists. They could have been agents of Iran or North Korea. The Secret Service would never have known," he said.

During President George W. Bush's administration, it was standard procedure to have someone from the White House social office at the gate for state dinners and other events with large groups of visitors, according to a former senior Bush aide who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to be seen as criticizing the Obama White House.

The social office is most knowledgeable about the guest list and could have been called in case of any uncertainty, this official said.

White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, asked by The Associated Press on Thursday whether personnel from her office were at the checkpoint said, "We were not."

However, a senior administration source told NBC News that staff from the office were nearby, working "between the checkpoints" in the case of problems.

In addition, the source said, social office staff were "available at a computer to double check if someone is not on the list and also to enter them into the system for processing if for some reason they should be allowed in and are not on the list."



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White House Party Crashers: Va. Social Climbers Seeking Fame...It Worked! Ha Ha

Inside the White House: Two reality TV hopefuls. How did socialites Tareq and Michaele Salahi crash the White House state dinner? NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports that Secret Service is interviewing agents, White House staff and reviewing surveillance footage to determine how the couple got past layers of security to be in the same room as President Obama.

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Uninvited couple sneaks into 1st Obama White House State Dinner.

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Who are these people? The climbers at the gate


Michaele Salahi spent seven hours in a posh Georgetown salon getting ready for her big night out. She was going to the White House for the Obamas' first state dinner. Creating the perfect hair and makeup for the glamorous blonde for such a special occasion would take time, of course. But then there were the cameras, the takes and retakes.

The Northern Virginia socialite was being taped by a production crew for Bravo cable channel's forthcoming "The Real Housewives of Washington."

"It was a lot of schmoozing with the staff," James Packard-Gomez, CEO of Erwin Gomez Salon, said Thursday, explaining why the hair and makeup session lasted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The salon was abuzz because Michaele and her husband, Tareq, were among the 320 VIPs invited to join the president and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "They were asking, 'So, what do you think of them getting invited to this?' "

The stylist doing Michaele's hair asked to see the White House invitation, Packard-Gomez said. "She starts rummaging through her purse, and then said, 'It must be out in the car.' "

Would the film crews get into the White House, too? " 'We tried,' " he says she told them, " 'but they wouldn't let them in.' "

But the White House says there never was an invitation. Somehow the aspiring reality-TV stars managed to get themselves in Tuesday night and were photographed with Vice President Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, causing an international uproar about security at the executive mansion.

The Secret Service said the Salahis crashed the party and that the agency is investigating how the couple penetrated presidential security. The Salahis' attorney, Paul W. Gardner, posted a statement on the couple's Facebook page: "My clients were cleared, by the White House, to be there. More information is forthcoming."

The Salahis did not respond to e-mails Thursday. But their publicist, Mahogany Jones, said in an e-mail: "We will be addressing this specifically with several media platforms." Meanwhile, CNN announced that the now-famous couple would appear on "Larry King Live" on Monday night.

Bravo and the local production company it has contracted, Half Yard Productions, said the production team was aware that the Salahis were headed to the state dinner and took the couple's word that they were on the guest list. A film crew followed the Salahis on the drive to the White House but did not attempt to follow them onto the grounds.

NBC News anchor Brian Williams, an invited guest at the dinner, told the "Today" show that he noticed the couple's SUV being turned away from the East Gate entrance. A camera crew was with them, and a woman touched up the Salahis' makeup and hair, Williams said.

It is still unclear whether the couple managed to meet or be photographed with President Obama, Michelle Obama or the guest of honor. Guests went through a formal receiving line in the Blue Room before dinner, but a White House official said Thursday that he did not know if the couple went through the line. India's embassy did not respond to a call for comment.

This is not the first time the Salahis have represented themselves as power players: On the couple's joint Facebook account are pictures of them in the first family's glass-enclosed viewing area after the inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

"Tareq & Michaele were honored to be invited to President Obamas private viewing box at the Lincoln Memorial," the posting reads. "Naturally this picture was taken after his departure . . . The glass is not only bullet proof, but also electrified. Never try to touch this special protective glass."

Other images from inauguration weekend show them with Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black, Forest Whitaker and Gayle King.

The Salahis got a foothold in D.C. society with their Oasis Winery in Hume. That was before a nasty family feud shut down the vineyard. The couple also attempted to establish social bona fides with their America's Polo Cup events, which led to sniping among D.C. polo insiders about the organization's legitimacy and charitable giving.

People who attend exclusive Washington parties with administration or congressional insiders say the Salahis haven't been seen there; Tareq gave just $1,600 in political contributions ($600 to George Allen, $1,000 to Jim Moran) over the past nine years.

But they have made no secret of their dreams of reality-TV stardom. Bravo announced this year that it would bring the "Real Housewives" franchise to Washington after series set in New York, New Jersey, Atlanta and Orange County, Calif., proved wildly popular. The shows have made mini-stars of unknown women, some of whom have leveraged the fame into dishy memoirs and merchandise lines. In Washington, cameras for Half Yard have taped a half-dozen women at parties, workplaces and homes. Michaele, a former Redskins cheerleader, has been one of those most conspicuously followed.

No casting decisions have been finalized -- meaning that without compelling footage, any one of them could be cut at any time. It's unlikely, however, that the Salahis went to the state dinner in hopes of securing a place on the show. "I don't think they're afraid of being cut: They create a lot of drama on the show," said a source who has known the couple for years.

The Secret Service said Thursday that its procedures to ensure a tight bubble of security around the White House were not followed for the state dinner when the couple entered with other guests on the southeast side of the White House, but the agency did not provide details. "We're being intentionally vague on that," said spokesman Ed Donovan. "All we are saying is that procedures we have in place weren't followed."

The Salahis' joint Facebook page, where so much of Tuesday night's adventure unfolded and unraveled, was lit up with scores of messages Thursday: some teasing, some comforting, many exulting over the couple's newfound fame.

"I have to give it you guys ;) that's how you make an entrance, LOVE IT!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!"

"Wow . . . National News . . . NICE!!!"

"I just saw you guys on the local San Diego news channel! Nice job!"

"That was truly an unbelievable caper -- this should get you either: 1) A one year gig on a reality show, or 2) A one year gig stamping license plates."



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Sources: Washington Post, MSNBC, Facebook, Google Maps