It's hard to imagine the details of the State Dinner Crashers getting weirder...and yet they will. And Michaele Salahi getting photographed with PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi speaks to a level of cunning that makes the entire Crash even more alarming...Rep. Edolphus "Ed" Towns (D-NY), the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced his demand for a briefing about the StateGate incident yesterday on Twitter, in what might be the first time in history an elected representative has used the microplatform to discuss security initiatives. Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the two uninvited guests who managed the astounding crash of Tuesday's State Dinner for India, were (sadly!) not using Twitter when the potential federal crime occurred. Towns is a fairly savvy user of social media; he has his own Youtube channel, and a Facebook page. Still, there's no mention of the demand for a preliminary briefing about StateGate on his Congressional homepage.
There's more (weird) information by the moment coming out about the Crashers. Not that surprisingly, the Redskins organization has announced that there is no record of Michaele Salahi being a Redskins cheerleader, which is one of the claims on her Facebook page (which remains live, despite the possibility of federal criminal charges). And in 2005, the Salahis were photographed with then-Senator Obama and the musical group Black Eyed Peas (above). Also in the photo is Randy Jackson, host of American Idol (at far left in photo). The Peas' Will.i.am (to left of Mr. Obama in photo) was a big Obama fundraiser during the campaign, and played at the Inauguration, for Al Gore's Green Ball. Fergie (on right) has since played at the White House, at the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll.At left is Michaele Salahi with
PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi at the State Dinner. Nooyi's CEO of the $43 billion global operation, and employs people in 200 countries. She escorted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh around Washington all day last Monday and Tuesday, and sat at President Obama's table at the State Dinner, after being named to a new Treasury Department consultancy on India-US economic initiatives. Nooyi's about as powerful as, say, Vice President Joe Biden in terms of helping the middle class--and Salahi was also photographed with Biden at the State Dinner. But Nooyi's a private citizen, and most people aren't aware of her deep ties within the Obama administration--and India. The Salahis seeking Nooyi out and getting photographed with her speaks to a level of cunning and political savvy that makes the whole "adventure" seem less like stupidity and more like an attempt to crumble the administration. Or maybe it is just stupidity, after all. And a complete lack of decency. Read more about Ms. Nooyi here. The State Dinner guest list is here.AP reports that a television appearance on CNN's Larry King Live, scheduled for Monday, Nov. 30, has been canceled by the Salahis, and that "the couple is peddling their story to broadcast networks for hundreds of thousands of dollars, a television executive says. The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the network does not publicly discuss bookings, told the Associated Press that representatives for Michaele and Tareq Salahi contacted networks to urge them to "get their bids in" for an interview. The executive said the Virginia couple was looking for a payment in the mid-six figures range."
H/T Michael O'Brien at The Hill's Blog Briefing Room for Rep. Towns Twitter tip
