White House 'gatecrashers' Salahi's say they have stayed 'low-key' since event

Washington, Apr 10 (ANI): The gate-crashing Salahis of Virginia, who met U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama during the state dinner in honour of Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in November last year, have claimed that they are committed to keep "low key" after their infamous stunt.

"We have stayed quiet; we have stayed low key," Politico quoted Tareq, as saying.

"That's what we committed to do, and we've honored the commitment we've made with ourselves and with our counsel and with others to stay quiet and not discuss things that weren't really necessary to discuss," he added.

He further said he along with Michaele had to face a great amount of invasion of privacy that "no human being, no American citizen, should ever go through".

"We wouldn't want to relive what we had to go through. Because you have to understand ... there wasn't three or four media, there wasn't 10 media, there were trucks and trucks in front of the winery [we own] trying to find us and catch an interview. There was maybe 150-200 media. That was disturbing," Tareq said.

"It was disturbing that Fox News was coming and actually trespassing on our private land, trying to open doors of our houses, removing signs. ... We were concerned that somebody from that kind of news organization was doing that - that bothered us," he added.

Last year, Michaele and Tareq Salahi had met and shook hands with the President and the first lady in the receiving line in the Blue Room, as the Obamas greeted each of their 400 invited guests.

The White House had released a photograph of the couple in the receiving line, being greeted by Obama.

In the photo, a smiling Michaele Salahi, wearing a red and gold sari, was seen clasping Obama's hand with both of hers, as her husband looked on. The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was standing next to Obama. (ANI)