The Real Housewives Of D.C. White House Scandal, Explained

A slew of Bravo shows became available to stream on Peacock this week, among them the short-lived The Real Housewives of D.C., which debuted in 2010 and aired for just one season. Even if you didn’t watch it in its heyday, you almost certainly heard about it.

Months before the show premiered, it made national headlines when cast member Michaele Salahi and her then-husband, Tareq Salahi, infamously crashed a White House event.

Forget “Scandoval” or Salt Lake City’s Reality Von Tease, this OG Bravo scandal rocked the nation’s capital and marked a major first for The Real Housewives.

The Scandal Itself

On November 24, 2009, President Barack Obama was hosting his first state dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

With a Real Housewives camera crew in tow, the Salahis showed up at the White House and managed to pass through not one, but two security checkpoints, according to ABC News. That included a name-checked guest list and a metal detector.

Members of the press, such as The Washington Post’s Roxanne Roberts, recognized Michaele and Tareq at the event, and claimed to have raised questions about their presence given they weren’t on the guest list, but any suspicions were brushed aside.

After making their way to the White House’s Blue Room, the Salahis rubbed shoulders with high-profile figures, including President Obama.

According to their own version of events, reported by NBC News, the couple left the reception at around 9 p.m. when Michaele fell ill. Coincidentally, this was the same time invited guests were scheduled to take their seats.

Once they’d exited the White House complex, Michaele and Tareq shared a Facebook status on their joint account saying, “Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!”

The couple’s online activity is reportedly what first alerted White House security to the apparent breach. The following day, a White House official confirmed that Michaele and Tareq “weren’t invited” to the event, sparking a formal investigation and media frenzy.

The Messy Aftermath

The story gained tons of attention, and the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee invited the Salahis to attend a hearing regarding the security breach on December 3, 2009. The couple “respectfully declined” the request, and instead made an appearance on the Today show.

“We were invited,” Michaele insisted about the White House event. “We’re greatly saddened by all the circumstances that have been involved in portraying my wife and I as party crashers. I can tell you we did not party crash the White House.”

Roughly a week later, President Obama waded into the controversy, describing the incident as a “screw up” during a 60 Minutes interview.

The Committee on Homeland Security ultimately voted to subpoena Michaele and Tareq for a January 2010 hearing, at which the couple invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer any questions.

While the Secret Service considered criminal charges against the couple, they escaped any legal ramifications. Their personal and professional lives, however, were greatly impacted.

Soon after, Tareq resigned from the Virginia Tourism Board at the request of Gov. Tim Kaine, who went on to run as Hilary Clinton’s running mate in 2016. As for Michaele, her stint as a Real Housewife came to an abrupt end in April 2011, when Bravo canceled the D.C. franchise — marking the first time the network had pulled the plug on a Housewives show.

In 2015 host Andy Cohen cited the couple’s White House crash as the reason for the cancelation. “I loved Real Housewives of D.C. I wanted to bring it back for a second season,” he said. “But that show really got torpedoed by the ‘Salamis.’ ... There was such a stink on it from those two.” (The show was somewhat revived in 2016 with the debut of The Real Housewives of Potomac, which Cohen called “D.C. adjacent.”)

As for the couple themselves, Tareq filed for divorce from Michaele in September 2011, listing adultery and abandonment as the reason for their split.