StateGate Update: Reality Bites

Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY), the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced his demand for a briefing yesterday on Twitter, in what might be the first use of its kind for the microplatform. Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the two uninvited guests who managed the astounding crash of the State Dinner leading to the security review, were (sadly!) not using Twitter when the potential federal crime occurred. But this might be the first time in history an elected representative has called for a security briefing on Twitter. Towns is a fairly savvy user of social media; he has his own Youtube channel, a Facebook page. Still, there’s no mention of the demand for a preliminary briefing on his Congressional homepage.

Eddie’s post also reports that the Redskins have no record of Michaele Salahi being a Redskins cheerleader, which was one of the claims on her Facebook page. While it doesn’t prove anything, Michaele and Tareq Salahi do have fairly substantial connections to the Indian Embassy in Washington. That lead to some interesting speculation from Josh Marshall:

If someone at the Indian Embassy vouched for the Salahis or in some way facilitated their getting in and someone with the Secret Service went along with that, that would seem like a good example of procedures not being followed. And it’s one that, albeit very serious, strikes me as plausible.

If something like this did happen, it would also explain some of the White House’s silence. Not only is this embarrassing for the White House and the Secret Service, it would also be diplomatically embarrassing for the Indian government — something the White House and State Department would like to avoid.

Josh updates, “The Indian Embassy has released a statement to TPMDC categorically denying any roll.” (But wouldn’t we expect them to say that in any event?)

Credit Slips digs into the Salahi’s bankruptcy petitions and filings, “Bottom line is that nothing looks particularly interesting about these bankruptcies other than some of what passes in bankruptcy land as salacious details (Aston-Martin!).”

Meanwhile, AP is reporting that two senators, Democrat Evan Bayh of Indiana and Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona, are saying authorities ought to pursue criminal charges against the Salahis. Fox adds the juicy morsel that Bayh compared the long-term impact on U.S. security to that of shoe-bomber Richard Reid, whose attempt to blow up an airplane by lighting explosives in his shoes led to travelers having to remove their footwear at security checks in U.S. airports.

He expects that now White House visitors will have to take off their shoes?

I have yet to nail down a source for the report that Katie Couric slipped a note under the Salahi’s door asking for the first interview, but we do know that tomorrow’s scheduled Larry King appearance has been canceled. And no less a source than the NYTimes reports they’re trying to sell their story to the highest bidder, hoping for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The photo above is not among those posted on Michael Salahi’s Facebook page. I found it via the NYDaily News, Reality-TV twits Tareq & Michaele Salahi embarassed Obama – and nation.