Tareq and Michaele Salahi undergo ‘public flogging’

The infamous Virginia couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, were dragged before a congressional committee on Capitol Hill yesterday to explain how and why they gatecrashed a White House state dinner last year. But to the fury of the politicians, they repeatedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment which gives Americans the right not to incriminate themselves.

"I respectfully assert my right to remain silent and decline to answer your question," they repeated ad nauseum, as Homeland Security Committee members became more and more frustrated.

"I would infer from your actions today that you don't feel any regret about the problems you've caused," Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy told the couple, who made their uninvited appearance at the White House on November 24 in a desperate bid to be chosen for the TV reality show, Real Housewives of DC.

So desperate that one committee member, Candice Miller, a Republican from Michigan, got the show's name wrong when she sneered: "It's almost surreal to be looking at these people who wanted to be on some show called 'Desperate Housewives of Washington DC' or whatever."

Others complained about the sheer bother caused by the investigation into how the Salahis had inveigled their way past the Secret Service to get into the function, where they even received a handshake from President Obama. "Time is the only thing we have of value, and I can't believe how much of ours you're wasting," said Chris Carney, a Democrat from Pennsylvania.

When Tareq did finally speak after pleading the Fifth more than 25 times, he used his closing statement to say that he and Michaele "are strong supporters of the men and women in uniform," and that "nothing that transpired on November 24 should take away from the extraordinary service the United States Secret Service performs on a daily basis".

At which point Dan Lundgren, a Republican representative for California, nearly exploded. Respect for the Secret Service? "You did not show that," said Lungren. "I was going to sit here and remain silent until I heard that last statement."

Lundgren told the couple: "To have engaged in conduct that undercut the seriousness of our role to protect the president as some sort of reality TV stunt is an extraordinary affront to the seriousness of the issues that are before us today."

The Salahis have not been charged with any crime but a federal grand jury is investigating whether they lied to federal agents and/or were guilty of trespassing. Stephen Best, the couple's lawyer, continued to insist after yesterday's hearing - which he described as a "public flogging" - that the Salahis are innocent. "They believed in their hearts they were invited to the White House," he said. "This was not a stunt." ·