Salahis asked to appear before House Committee on Jan 20

US-SALAHIS

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Dec 10 (PTI) US lawmakers overwhelmingly
voted Thursday to force the Virginia couple Tareq and Michaele
Salahi, who gatecrashed the White House state dinner hosted by
US President Barack Obama in honour of Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, to face questioning on January 20 over the
incident.

The House Committee on Homeland Security voted to
subpoena Tareq Salahi and his wife Michaele by margins of 26-3
and 27-4, respectively, setting a date of January 20, 2010,
for them to appear to face questioning.
However, nothing much is expected on January 20 as the
Salahis' attorneys have said that the couple would keep quite
by invoking their Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination.
"The ground cited by the Salahis for their refusal to
testify are irrelevant and has no bearing on the oversight
activity of the House of Representatives," said Congressman
Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the Committee, before moving the
subpoena resolution in this regard.
Thompson said he expects to know whether the couple
will face criminal charges by January 20.
The couple got past several checkpoints and into the
White House where they shook hands with Obama and mingled with
top officials at the November 24 state dinner.
Three US Secret Service agents, who let the Salahis
inside the White House during the dinner, have been placed
under administrative leave, even as the agency's chief
described the episode as a "human error". PTI LKJ
ANU


The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive
use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged
information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please
notify the sender immediately and destroy
all copies of this message and any attachments contained in it.