As Salahis Testify, Witnesses say Secret Service had been Warned

Photo Courtesy of Greg Woodell for The Loudoun Times-Mirror In a photo taken in mid-January 2009, Mary Blazej, the mother of Salahi limo drivers Eric and Greg Woodell, glances suspiciously at the phony Inaugural car pass -- complete with Presidential seal and the words "Official Vehihicle" (sic) that Greg Woodell claims Tareq Salahi created on his home computer. Greg Woodell claims that the Salahis still owe him $2,480 in back wages, beer money and hardware reimbursements for driving them to events in and around the Nation's Capital.

Source: Loudoun Times-Mirror

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - When polo-playing socialite Tareq Salahi and his wife, Michaele Salahi, testify before Congress Wednesday on how they allegedly crashed a White House state dinner last November, the Salahis say they will plead the Fifth, but they claim they have been falsely accused.

"It will truly be a historic moment," said Tareq Salahi, speaking exclusively to the Loudoun Times-Mirror last week. "Not since the 1950s has Congress held hearings of such a historic nature."

Photo by John Arundel Rachel Harshman of Middleburg, once a close friend of Michaele Salahi's, alleges that a year ago, the Salahis crashed the presidential inauguration. Harshman said she received a phone call from the Salahis inviting her to the inaugural festivities. "'Oh sister! Are you coming to the inauguration?' We're really good friends with Obama! He's going to appoint (Tareq) to an ambassadorship. He hasn't decided which one."

In 1950, Congress held hearings on White House security after two Cuban nationalists stormed the Blair House across the street from the White House, imperiling the security of then-President Harry S Truman, who was staying there while the executive mansion was undergoing renovations.

Tareq Salahi told the Times-Mirror that he and his wife would exercise their Fifth Amendment rights to avoid being witnesses against themselves when they appear before the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security, keeping the disclosure of their invitation under wraps until a Wednesday-afternoon news conference at the Capitol.

When asked why he would not divulge their evidence at the House hearing, Tareq responded: "The answer's easy. Eleanor Holmes Norton."

Norton, a D.C. delegate and committee member, issued a press release Nov. 30, 2009, stating that she believes the Salahis are guilty, "practiced con artists who bamboozled the Secret Service.” As a result, Tareq said he has been advised by his attorneys that they would not get a fair hearing.

Tareq said he and Michaele are innocent of any White House gate-crashing, and have the documentation to prove it. "We were shocked the day after the dinner, when we heard we were on CNN," Tareq said. "We drove over to our friend's house and watched it on television, totally speechless. Crashers? Huh? All we wanted to do was turn around and drive back to the White House and ask them what was going on."

Tareq said the "real story" has not been revealed – why they were labeled "gate crashers" by The Washington Post, which broke the story. He said he plans to sue the Post for libel.

Photo by John Arundel "All you hear is the negative things about us but we were just victims of a bad economy," said Tareq Salahi, here with his wife Michaele. "There is a reason why the White House isn't promoting the story ... They have the documents which show that we are innocent. We have the cell phone records and the videos from that evening taken while Michaele was getting ready at Erwin Gomez salon. These tell quite a different story."

“Dig deeper," he said, speaking in deliberate, conspiratorial tones. "If you look at our bankruptcy filing, you'll see that we owed The Washington Post $24,000 for advertising. Because of the bad economy, we could not pay it. The Post retaliated against us by putting that story out there."

As to what documentation the couple plans to produce showing that they were indeed invited, Tareq responded, "Ohh, we've got much more than an e-mail."

Tareq said he would produce cell phone records and other documents he said show a clear link between State Department and Department of Defense officials who invited him to the White House.

The first gate crash?

The Nov. 24 incident at The White House may not have been the first time the couple made it close to the Obamas.Greg Woodell, the Salahis' former limousine driver, and Rachel Harshman, once a close friend of Michaele Salahi's, allege that a year ago, the Salahis crashed the presidential inauguration.

The two claim the couple placed a fake pass in the window of their white Lincoln limousine to get into a restricted area of the Mall during the presidential inauguration.

The limo pass, which has been taken as evidence by the Secret Service, shows a presidential seal and the words "Official Presidential Inaugural 2009 Vehihcle (sic)" with the word "vehicle" misspelled. Woodell claims that Tareq Salahi produced the pass on his home computer, photo-shopping the presidential seal onto the pass.

Woodell, 39, became the Salahis' driver in January 2009, and he said he quit in May.

He said he warned the government about the couple.

"I went to the Secret Service on four separate occasions and warned them about Tareq and Michaele," Woodell said. "We told them that they wanted to get close to the Obamas and that this would end up real messy unless they did something."

Photo by John Arundel Greg Woodell holds an "Australia vs. USA" America's Cup of Polo commemorative plate, one of about 400 that he said the Salahis received to serve food at the May 2009 event, and which he claims Tareq asked him to scratch off the wording on the back of the plate which reads: "Not for Food Use - Food Consumed from This Vessel May be Harmful."

Woodell's claim that he warned the Secret Service was backed up by Harshman. She said she asked Woodell to call the Secret Service last May and give their accusations, which included claims of credit card fraud, Tareq carrying a concealed weapon around D.C., and in several cases, appropriating the names, identities and credit histories of several dead people. The Times-Mirror could not independently verify these claims.

Woodell said the Secret Service agent would not identify himself on the four separate calls, which Woodell said he made in June, July, August and October. On request by a reporter, Woodell said he has since attempted to request his home phone records as proof that he had made the warning calls to the Secret Service, but was told by a Verizon representative after being put on hold that he would need "a court order" to see his itemized home call records.

"I know that he spoke to the Secret Service because I told him to call them and he called me after each and every call," said Harshman, an equestrian who lives in Middleburg. "I've met with the Secret Service on two separate occasions and told them that we called them to warn them, and they just nodded their heads and said nothing."

Edwin Donovan, a Department of Justice spokesman, would not comment about the case.

"This is an ongoing investigation by the Secret Service and the DOJ," he said. "As such, any comment could unfairly affect the outcome of the case. We need to be extremely fair to all parties involved, so we really can't comment."

Woodell also said the couple claimed to have met the president.

Photo by John Arundel Rachel Cara Harshman met Michaele Holt in 1998 at an event in Washington, D.C., and said the two became fast friends, sharing the same likes and dislikes and a passion for the area's fast lane of social commerce, polo games, fine wine and successful men.

"Tareq told me on numerous occasions that President Obama gave him four choices of ambassador, and that he was the United States ambassador to Palestine," Woodell said.

Palestine is not recognized as a nation-state by the State Department, so there is no U.S. ambassador. "Who was I to disagree? I was just the limo driver."

Harshman said she received a phone call from Michaele in mid-January 2009, inviting her to the inaugural festivities. "'Oh sister! Are you coming to the inauguration?'" she said she was asked by Michaele. Harshman said Tareq got on the line and said: "We're really good friends with Obama. He's going to appoint me to an ambassadorship. He hasn't decided which one."

Harshman said Michaele called her after the inauguration, relating their experience.

The official Virginia DMV title for the vehicle was registered to Virginia Wine Tourism Inc., which operated the Salahis' Virginia Wine Country Tours. Tareq resigned from his state-appointed post on the Virginia Wine Tourism Commission last December, but not before Woodell claims that he saw Tareq put numerous charges for the America's Cup of Polo on his state-issued credit card.

"They were always coming up with ways to beat the system," said Harshman, who said she spent the better part of the last decade with the Salahis, before splitting from them last May in a dispute over money.

Both Harshman and Woodell said that they saw a credit card machine next to Tareq's home computer, and that he used it frequently to deny or "charge back" credit card charges to merchants like hair salon appointments.

Indeed, an examination of the Salahis' Chapter 7 filing by their closely-held Oasis Enterprises Inc. with the Eastern District of Virginia Bankruptcy Court shows a pattern of credit card charge-backs, totaling $8,739.83.

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Photo Courtesy of Greg Woodell for The Loudoun Times-Mirror The Salahis white limo, parked outside of the Woodells home near Winchester. "I went to the Secret Service on four separate occasions and warned them about Tareq and Michaele, " Woodell told The Loudoun Times-Mirror. "We told them that they wanted to get close to the Obamas and that this would end up real messy unless they did something."

Photo Courtesy of Greg Woodell for The Loudoun Times-Mirror "Tareq told me on numerous occasions that President Obama gave him four choices of ambassador, and that he was the United States ambassador to Palestine," Woodell said. Palestine is not recognized as a nation-state by the State Department, so there is no U.S. ambassador. "Who was I to disagree? I was just the limo driver."

Photo Courtesy of Greg Woodell for The Loudoun Times-Mirror Woodell said he saw a credit card machine next to Tareq's home computer, and that he used it frequently to deny or "charge back" credit card charges to merchants like hair salon appointments. Indeed, an examination of the Salahis' Chapter 7 filing by their closely-held Oasis Enterprises Inc. with the Eastern District of Virginia Bankruptcy Court shows a pattern of credit card charge-backs, totaling $8,739.83.