White House dinner crashers met Obama; Secret Service says officers didn't check guest list
WASHINGTON (AP) _ This time, the picture is the story.
After the Secret Service insisted that President Barack Obama was never endangered by a security breach that allowed a couple to crash his first state dinner, the White House has released a photo showing that not only did the pair get close to Obama, they actually shook hands and talked to him.
As the White House was disclosing that the Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, met Obama in the receiving line, a "deeply concerned and embarrassed" Secret Service on Friday acknowledged that its officers never checked whether the two were on the guest list before letting them onto the White House grounds.
The White House released a photo showing the Salahis in the receiving line in the Blue Room with Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in whose honor the dinner was held. Obama and reality TV hopeful Michaele Salahi are smiling as she grasps his right hand with both of hers and her husband looks on. Singh is standing to Obama's left.
The Secret Service earlier this week had said the president was not in danger because the couple _ like others at the dinner _ had gone through magnetometers. But in light of their close proximity to the president, no such claim was made Friday.
___
An SUV accident sends PGA Tour star Tiger Woods to hospital, and police looking for answers
By The Associated Press
There are plenty of vivid details from the car crash that sent Tiger Woods to the hospital: His SUV hit a fire hydrant and a tree; his lips were cut and he had blood in his mouth; his wife smashed a rear window with a golf club to get him out; he briefly lost consciousness.
There are also plenty of questions, among them:
Where was he going at 2:25 a.m. Friday? Why was there no word from the Woods' camp for nearly 13 hours after the accident?
Police hope Woods can answer some of them Saturday.
Two troopers tried to talk to the world's No. 1 golfer Friday evening, but his wife said he was sleeping and they agreed to come back Saturday, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Kim Montes said.
According to the patrol, Woods had just left his Florida mansion when he lost control of his 2009 Cadillac and hit a fire hydrant, then a tree on his neighbor's property. The report said alcohol was not a factor.
The patrol reported the accident occurred at 2:25 a.m. Friday morning and classified the injuries as serious. The first word from Woods' camp _ some 13 hours after the crash _ was that it was a "minor accident," and he was in good condition after being treated and released.
___