OBAMA ON GATECRASHERS: ‘Lapse won’t happen again.’ Just as “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft was ending his interview with Barack Obama on Sunday’s show, an off screen producer reminded him to ask about the president about Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the so-called “White House gatecrashers.” Their unauthorized entrance into the Obama administration’s first state dinner prompted a Congressional investigation and media frenzy. “It’s really a shame that I had to go through a whole ’60 Minutes’ interview without talking about the gate crashers,” the president quipped while laughing, The president said the Salahis “should not have gotten through the gate.” “A mistake was made at the checkpoint to let them through,” he said. “That mistake was not corrected through the process. I think the Secret Service has already taken responsibility for it. I think there’s been an acknowledgement on the part of the White House that there should’ve been better coordination between Secret Service and the Social Secretary’s office. And it won’t happen again.” Asked if he is unhappy with White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, the president said he is “unhappy with everybody who was involved in the process.” “…because obviously although I chafe at being in the bubble, I also want to make sure my family is safe,” he said. “And that foreign guests of ours are safe. And so, it was a screw up.” “Now I will admit that, you know, this is a town where once a screw up happens, people can’t just say, okay, that was a screw up and let’s fix it,” he said. “There has to be, you know two weeks worth of cable chatter about it.” “I don’t think that from a policy perspective, this was the most important thing or even the fifth or sixth most important thing that happened this week, although it got the most news,” added Mr. Obama. Kroft asked the president if he was “seriously angry” when he found out what happened. “Yes,” he said. “That’s why it won’t happen again.”
OBAMA ON GATECRASHERS: ‘Lapse won’t happen again.’ Just as “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft was ending his interview with Barack Obama on Sunday’s show, an off screen producer reminded him to ask about the president about Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the so-called “White House gatecrashers.” Their unauthorized entrance into the Obama administration’s first state dinner prompted a Congressional investigation and media frenzy. “It’s really a shame that I had to go through a whole ’60 Minutes’ interview without talking about the gate crashers,” the president quipped while laughing, The president said the Salahis “should not have gotten through the gate.” “A mistake was made at the checkpoint to let them through,” he said. “That mistake was not corrected through the process. I think the Secret Service has already taken responsibility for it. I think there’s been an acknowledgement on the part of the White House that there should’ve been better coordination between Secret Service and the Social Secretary’s office. And it won’t happen again.” Asked if he is unhappy with White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, the president said he is “unhappy with everybody who was involved in the process.” “…because obviously although I chafe at being in the bubble, I also want to make sure my family is safe,” he said. “And that foreign guests of ours are safe. And so, it was a screw up.” “Now I will admit that, you know, this is a town where once a screw up happens, people can’t just say, okay, that was a screw up and let’s fix it,” he said. “There has to be, you know two weeks worth of cable chatter about it.” “I don’t think that from a policy perspective, this was the most important thing or even the fifth or sixth most important thing that happened this week, although it got the most news,” added Mr. Obama. Kroft asked the president if he was “seriously angry” when he found out what happened. “Yes,” he said. “That’s why it won’t happen again.”