WH Party Crashers Play the Victim

Here's a stunner. NBC is the first outlet to have these grifters on to tell "their side" of the story. Must be a coincidence that NBC owns Bravo, the cable outlet filming them for a reality show.

The fame-hungry couple who infamously got inside an exclusive White House party without an invite said this morning that they "did not party crash the White House," and called outrage over the publicity stunt "the most devastating thing that has ever happened to us."

In their first interview since the Nov. 24 White House dinner, Tareq Salahi told the "Today" show's Matt Lauer that he and Michaele Salahi that they are "deeply saddened" by being painted as attention-hungry wannabe reality TV stars and that they are "cooperating extentively with the Secret Service."

The couple, trying to land a spot on "The Real Housewives of D.C." allegedly snuck their way into the star-studded event and then bragged about it. Tareq Salahi told Lauer there is another side to the story.

Meanwhile, a report indicates they had help crashing from a Pentagon official and it wasn't the first time they snuck into an event at which Obama was appearing.

A top Pentagon official tried to help White House party crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi secure a legitimate invite to the state dinner -- and appeared to encourage them to attend, according to a published report.

In e-mails to the couple, Michele Jones, the special assistant to the secretary of defense, led the couple to believe that they should dress up and be prepared to mingle with dignitaries when they went, The Washington Post said yesterday.

Jones even hinted that the pair should then post snapshots of themselves hanging out with the elite DC crowd on their Facebook page, the paper said, citing sources familiar with the e-mails.

It's the latest twist in the unfolding mystery of how the two reality-star wannabes managed to get into a secure event and shake hands with President Obama.

WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington, reported the Salahis also crashed a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner on Sept. 26 at which Obama spoke. Foundation representative Lance Jones said early today that the Salahis were escorted out by security after they were caught at a table.

In the White House incident, Jones' relationship to the couple is unclear, although she lists the Salahis' lawyer, Paul Gardner, as one of her 50 friends on Facebook, the paper said.

Given the e-mails, the Salahis arrived at the event thinking their invite was approved, according to pals of the couple.

"There was e-mail correspondence confirming they were legitimately supposed to be there," said one friend, Casey Margenau.

Still, while Jones said in the e-mails that she was trying to get Salahis seats at the actual dinner, the pair went there only with the understanding that she had managed to score an invite for them to the cocktail reception and a handshake with Obama, sources told the New York Post.

"I did not state at any time or imply that I had tickets for ANY portion of the evening's events," Jones said in a statement released by the White House.

It's now officially ass-covering time.

Update: Here's the video:

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