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Congress to subpoena 'party crasher' couple

A House panel has voted to issue subpoenas to Michaele and Tareq Salahi after the couple failed to appear at last week's committee hearing on the White House State Dinner security breach.
/ Source: NBC News and news services

Congress will subpoena the White House gate-crashers to testify about how they got into a state dinner without an invitation.

Lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday approved the issuance of subpoenas to compel the attention-hungry couple to answer questions about the Nov. 24 incident.

By a vote of 26-3, the committee voted authorize the issuance of subpoenas to Michaele and Tareq Salahi after they failed to appear at last week's committee hearing on the security breach.

Tareq and Michaele Salahi have said they will invoke their Fifth Amendment rights to refuse to answer questions.

The subpoenas will direct the couple to appear on Jan. 20, 2010.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., introduced an amendment to include White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers on the resolution, requesting she also be subpoenaed to appear. That amendment was defeated by committee vote.

NBC's Amna Nawaz contributed to this report.