Party Crashers Met Obama

Washington (CNN) -- A couple who allegedly crashed this week's state dinner at the White House met President Obama in a reception line at the event, a White House official told CNN on Friday.

A White House photograph taken Tuesday evening shows Michaele Salahi, wearing a gold-accented red sari, clasping her hands around Obama's right hand as her smiling husband, Tareq, looks on. The dinner was held for visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is smiling next to the president in the photo.
An investigation into Tareq and Michaele Salahi has found that Secret Service agents did not follow protocol at a security checkpoint, the Secret Service said.

"The Secret Service is deeply concerned and embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding the State Dinner on Tuesday," the agency said in a statement Friday. "The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint, verifying that two individuals were on the guest list."

The Salahis, who are aspiring reality TV stars, made news when they showed up at Tuesday's state dinner.

The White House says the Salahis were not invited, but their lawyer, Paul W. Garner, "states emphatically that the Salahis did not 'crash' this event," according to a statement from the couple's publicist, Mahogany Jones.

The Secret Service's statement says that although the Salahis went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, "they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely."

"That failing is ours," the statement said.
The investigation continues and "appropriate measures have been taken to ensure this is not repeated," the agency said.

Also Friday, two Secret Service agents visited a Virginia winery to say they wanted to question the couple, according to the winery's manager.

Diane Weiss, manager at the Oasis Winery in Hume, Virginia, said the agents wanted to speak with the Salahis. Weiss said she didn't know their whereabouts.

The Warren County Report, a local newspaper, quoted Weiss as saying the agents said they wanted to speak with the couple and not arrest them. It also quoted her as saying that the Salahis live in Linden, Virginia, but receive mail at the winery.
And the agents said it was "imperative" that investigators speak with the couple and that they would "take whatever action" is necessary if they did not, the paper quoted Weiss as saying.

Weiss told CNN that the newspaper quoted her accurately, but she declined to elaborate.

Meanwhile, court records have revealed a more complete picture of the Salahis, who have left an extensive paper trail in federal bankruptcy and state court filings.
They are named in at least 16 different civil suits in Fauquier County, Virginia, near Washington, sometimes as plaintiffs, sometimes as defendants. Family members have sued the county and each other. The family winery, Oasis Winery, has sued Michaele Salahi.

They did not respond to CNN requests for comment Thursday about their legal history or the White House dinner.
"At this time the Salahis will not make any formal comments regarding the rumors and media speculation surrounding the White House State Dinner," Jones, their publicist, said in a statement.

Tareq and Michaele Salahi were engaged in a long court battle with his parents over the winery. Tareq Salahi sued his mother, Corinne, court records show, and the suit was dismissed.

The mother sued Tareq Salahi and the case went to trial. The outcome is not clear
from a Virginia courts Web site. Tareq and Michaele Salahi won control of the winery in 2007, but it has run into debt since then.

Oasis Winery filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February of this year, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records in the Eastern District of Virginia. Tareq Salahi is listed as company president in the filing. Listed creditors include the IRS, Fauquier County, the state of Virginia, several banks and American Express Corp., among others. The company claims about $335,000 in assets and $965,000 in liabilities.

Russian Train Derailment Terrorism?

Moscow, Russia (CNN) -- Investigators probing the derailment of an express train in Russia say they have found "elements of an explosive device" at the site.
The derailment killed at least 26 people and injured about 100, but there was no immediate word on who or what group might have been behind the action.

The investigative committee of the Russian prosecutor's office said Saturday police found "a crater with a depth of about 1.5 meters on the railroad bed" and traces of a bomb.
"Criminology experts have come to a preliminary conclusion that there was an explosion of an improvised explosive device equivalent to seven kilos of TNT," Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov said. He was quoted by Interfax, the Russian news agency.


Several leads are being pursued now. A criminal case has been opened under Article 205 ("terrorism") and Article 22 ("illegal possession or storage of weapons or explosives") of the Russian Criminal Code."
A total of 681 people -- 20 of them employees -- were on the Nevsky Express as it traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg on Friday night. The Nevsky Express is Russia's fastest train, equivalent to a bullet train.
The crash happened at 9:25 p.m. (1825 GMT) when the train was 280 kilometers (174 miles) from St. Petersburg, Russian state radio said.

At least three carriages carrying more than 130 people derailed and turned on their sides, and emergency workers were working to free anyone who may still be trapped inside.
The crash happened 44 minutes after another high-speed train, the Sapsan, had successfully traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg on the same rails, a representative of the Russian Transport Police said during a video conference call Saturday.
In August 2007, an explosion on the tracks derailed the Nevsky Express, injuring 60 people in what authorities called a terrorist act. Some 27,000 passengers on 60 trains were facing delays Saturday as a result of the accident, Russian State TV reported.

Northwest Transcripts Released by FAA

(CNN) -- One of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot the Minneapolis, Minnesota, airport last month told air traffic control that they had dropped from radio contact because of "cockpit distraction."
According to recordings released Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration, air traffic controllers finally established contact with the pilots of Northwest Flight 188 over Eau Claire, Wisconsin, after the pilots had been out of radio contact for more than an hour.

"Ah, roger, we got distracted and we've flown over, ah, Minneapolis, we are overhead Eau Claire and would like to do a 180 and do arrival from Eau Claire," the cockpit said.

Later, air traffic controllers from Minneapolis asked, "Do you have time to give a brief explanation on what happened?"
"[Ah we're just dealing with some company issues] and that's all I can tell you right now at this time," the cockpit responded.

The FAA says that the brackets note where the recording is not entirely clear and that the words inside them represent "the best interpretation" under the circumstances.

Read transcripts of how air traffic controllers tried to reach the pilots (PDF)
Later, the air traffic controllers asked if the pilots, Northwest Captain Timothy B. Cheney and First Officer Richard I. Cole, could "elaborate on the distraction."
"Ah [just] cockpit distraction, that's all I can say," is the response.

The flight -- carrying 144 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants -- eventually landed safely at Minneapolis. The FAA has revoked the licenses of both pilots, who have appealed the decision.
An air traffic controller told the pilots, "I just have to verify that the cockpit is secure."

The cockpit responded, "It is secure, we got distracted," according to the recording.
Air traffic control then apparently led the flight through maneuvers. Authorities said earlier that the maneuvers were to ensure that the pilots were in control of the plane.

In its letter to Cheney and Cole revoking their licenses, the FAA said the pilots were "extremely reckless" and endangered the public by flying an hour and half without contacting controllers.
The pilots have told federal investigators that they "lost track of time" while working on personal laptop computers, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

They became aware of their plane's position only after a flight attendant asked about the landing time, according to the NTSB.

Cheney and Cole were piloting Flight 188 from San Diego, California, to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport October 21 when air traffic controllers lost radio contact with their Airbus A320 over the Denver, Colorado, area, the FAA said.

Instead of beginning to descend as planned about 22 minutes before its scheduled arrival, the plane continued flying at its cruise altitude of 35,000 feet and passed over the Minnesota airport.

Air traffic controllers re-established radio contact after the plane had flown about 150 miles past its destination.



LINK TO FAA TRANSCRIPTS

Where was the Secret Service? Couple crashes state dinner.

A couple of aspiring reality-TV stars from Northern Virginia appear to have crashed the White House’s state dinner Tuesday night, penetrating layers of security with no invitation to mingle with the likes of Vice President Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Tareq and Michaele Salahi — polo-playing socialites known for a bitter family feud over a Fauquier County winery and their possible roles in the forthcoming “The Real Housewives of Washington” — were seen arriving at the White House and later posted on Facebook photos of themselves with VIPs at the elite gathering.

“Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!” one of them wrote on their joint Facebook page at 9:08 p.m.

But a White House official said the couple were not invited to the dinner, not included on the official guest list and never seated at a table in the South Lawn tent.

A woman describing herself as a publicist for the Salahis denied that they were interlopers. Pressed for details, Mahogany Jones sent a statement saying simply: “The Salahis were honored to be a part of such a prestigious event.... They both had a wonderful time.”

In same room with world leaders
While the White House offered no official explanation, it appears to be the first time in modern history that anyone has crashed a White House state dinner. The uninvited guests were in the same room as President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, although it is unknown whether they met the Obamas and the guest of honor.

“Everyone who enters the White House grounds goes through magnetometers and several other levels of screenings,” said Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service. “That was the case with the state dinner last night. No one was under any risk or threat.”

Vice President Joe Biden is seen with Michaele Salahi in a photo posted on a Facebook page after the White House dinner Tuesday night.

Donovan said a preliminary internal investigation Wednesday identified “a Secret Service checkpoint which did not follow proper procedure to ensure these two individuals were on the invited guest list.” He declined to give further details. An administration official said the White House will conduct its own review.

The Salahis, both in their 40s, showed up about halfway through the guest arrivals. A Marine announced their names, and the couple — he in a tux, she in a striking red and gold lehenga (traditional Indian formalwear) — swept pass reporters and photographers, stopping several times to pose for pictures. They then walked into the White House lower hallway, where they mingled with guests on the red carpet before heading up to the cocktail reception in the East Room.

Later, they posted pictures that seem to chart their course through the night: Michaele posing with Marines outside near the White House doors, and with Katie Couric and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) inside the mansion. In the East Room, the Salahis both cozied up to D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and his wife, Michelle.

But the best was yet to come: Once inside the dinner tent, they got pictures that appeared to show them with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Bollywood composer AR Rahman, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Obama Chief of Staff Emanuel (identified as “Ron” in the couple’s Facebook photo caption) and two with a grinning vice president. The photos end there — no shots of the Salahis sitting at a table, their seatmates or the post-dinner entertainment.

How could it happen? A former White House senior staffer — who more than a decade ago encountered a crasher at one of the executive mansion’s less-fancy parties — offered this theory:

A savvy pair of crashers, dressed to the nines, might arrive on foot at the visitors’ entrance, announce their names — then express shock and concern when the security detail at the gate failed to find them on the guest list. On a rainy night like Tuesday, with a crowd of 300-plus arriving, security might have lost track of or granted a modicum of sympathy to a pair who certainly looked as though they belonged there. If their IDs didn’t send up any red flags in the screening process, they would be sent through the magnetometers and into the White House.

And yet, the former staffer noted: Someone from the White House social office should have been posted at the guest entrance with the guards.

Once visitors were in, no one necessarily would ask them for further identification. They could check their coats, give their names to the Marine on duty, walk past reporters and into the lower hallway where guests picked up their table assignments. They would pass the junior staffers handing out seating cards and walk on up the stairs for cocktails in the East Room.

Later, all guests were directed to head for the dinner tent on the South Lawn. Facebook photos suggest that the Salahis walked into the tent; it’s unclear when they left. Reporters were cleared from the entryway by the time dinner seating got under way. There is no security checkpoint to leave the grounds.

The Salahis, longtime fixtures in local horse-country society, have recently seemed destined for national fame via reality TV. Michaele, a striking model-thin blonde who used to be a Redskins cheerleader, has been widely reported to be in contention as one of the “Real Housewives” in the forthcoming D.C. edition of the hit Bravo cable series. Although Bravo has not officially finalized its cast, its cameras have followed the couple at numerous parties — including the “America’s Polo Cup” held on the Mall in September, part of a series of tournaments the Salahis founded a few years ago.

Abby Greensfelder, head of the local production team Half Yard Productions, referred questions about the Salahis to Bravo. A Bravo representative declined to comment.

Text Messages Reveal 9-11 Horror

(CNN) -- Newly released text messages reportedly from the morning of September 11, 2001, show panicked family members trying to contact loved ones and officials frantically trying to grasp what was happening.

More than half a million messages, released by whistleblower site Wikileaks, reveal the panic, horror and pain of what happened that morning in the words of those who experienced it.

On September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers commandeered four commercial jetliners, loaded with fuel for cross-country flights. Two were flown into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York, one crashed into the Pentagon, and another, headed for an unknown location, crashed in Pennsylvania when it was disrupted by passengers.

A total of 2,976 people -- not including the hijackers -- were killed in the attacks.
Some people witnessing the attacks reached out to loved ones out of fear there might have been more attacks coming and they might die.

"The only thoughts I have are of Nicholas, Ian and you," read one text message. "I am terrified. I needed to tell you that I truly love you. always, diane."
"I want to hold you now," one text message a minute later reads.
"I know you have a new relationship and do not care about me. But just in case anything happens know I love you hon. Missed Ya good bye."

The first indication of a problem comes at 8:50 a.m., five minutes aft.er the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
"An aloha call is starting. This is for a fire at 2wt ..."
Video: 9/11 text messages


Another text message references "a bomb detonation" in the World Trade Center and asks recipients of the message to report back assessments of their areas.
A minute later, firsthand reports started flooding in.

"The world trade center has just blow up, we seen the explosion outside our windows. Teresa ..."
At 8:53 a.m. a message from the New York Police Department's operations division mobilizes officers toward the World Trade Center, telling them to meet at Church and Vessey streets.
At 9:03 a.m. the second plane hit the World Trade Center.
"It's a deliberate attack ... a second plane just few into the second tower," a message said 52 seconds later.

By 9:25 a.m. the personal messages have grown more frequent and more frantic.
Companies begin sending out messages asking for head counts on all employees.
People begin sharing reports of what they are seeing and hearing on TV, including early reports of people jumping from the World Trade Center.

Family members panicked, struggling to get through jammed phone lines to find out if their loved ones were OK.
9:25:40 a.m.

"Please call my work as soon as you get in the office. Need to know you're safe."
9:29:38 a.m.
"Wondering where you are. Are you okay. Give me a call back asap. I just need to know these things. Even if it's collect. Call me. Darryl"
11:32:56 a.m.
"if i do not hear from you by high noon, i am going to pick laura up at school and tell her her father is dead."
"goodbye my sweety.....im going to miss yo," another said.
"Honey wanted to tell you how much i love you," one sender wrote. "I was a little worried. I Don't want to lose you now that I got you back. You mean everything to me. You have my whole heart and life. I love you so much."

Some texts brought relief.

"My dad survived! I got a call from stepmom's coworker saying my dad is alive, although that is all the info I have. I do not know if he is injured or unscathed."
"Abroer's father is alive," one text proclaims. "survived WTC collapse. I am trying to contact family members to find out more."
"urgent. It's tim. I'm okay. Call me at home...i was outside the building when it exploded, but i'm fine."
Others have to wait and worry. Numerous messages simply read: "Are you okay?" "Where are you?" or "CALL ME NOW!"
"pete is ok. He can't find his brother who works in the world financial center next to the trade center....." one message read.

The messages also give insight to the federal government's scramble to evacuate buildings, bases and high-level officials.
"Jim: DEPLOY TO MT. WEATHER NOW! Tom" reads one message, referring to Mount Weather, the underground bunker where high-level officials are taken in a national emergency and a command facility for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

READ THE FULL STORY AT CNN HERE