Is Crashing A White House Party Criminal?

If you watch the video above, it certainly seems like they are criminals – at least in the eyes of the questioners.  The questioners continually try to get the Salahi’s to answer any question that might break their pleas to the 5th Amendment and thus open the doors for answers or prosecution.  Still – was a law broken?

Gate crashing a party, even a party with the President of the United States attending, is not illegal.  If the Salahi’s used bribery, misrepresentation, or fraud to gain entrance – those acts may be considered criminal, if it can be proven.  The onus of proof is not on the Salahi’s; they are innocent until proven guilty.  The onus of proof is on the prosecution, if it becomes a criminal case.

The thing that annoys me here is that the real issue is being swept under the carpet for this public lynching.  In my opinion, the Salahi’s are just “hackers.”  Prosecuting them is like prosecuting the conscientious hacker who breaks into a government database, looks around, and then leaves – publicly stating what he had done to either gain recognition or to expose a hole in security.  It’s certainly not wise to publicly expose the incompetence of others, but neither is it criminal. (well, for computer hacking it is now because a law has been passed making it illegal) The Salahi’s are getting hung out to dry in a public forum so the real issue, the glaring security hole that allowed them in, can be quietly shuffled to the side.

Make no mistake – that’s what happened here.  The Salahi’s aren’t super-genius criminals with backing from a foreign government or organization.  They are garden-variety “hackers” who did something because they could and are getting hammered for it.  They exposed an embarrassing security hole and the powers that be are throwing huge red herrings in front of us all to prevent us from seeing the incompetence that led to the creation of the hole.

We should thank the Salahi’s.  They did no harm.  They hurt no one.  They exposed a massive security vulnerability that could have led to terrible consequences if a malevolent person had exploited it.  Thanks to the Salahi’s we learned of, and can correct, this vulnerability before something bad happened.

Thank them, slap them on the wrist, and then plug the hole that let them in.  Stop the nonsense.