Tourists attended Obama breakfast

WASHINGTON – It was not a state dinner, and they did not crash it on purpose.

Still, a couple who showed up at the White House a day early for a tour somehow wound up at an invitation-only breakfast with President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. It left to the White House once again to explain how people who were not on an event guest list wound up being ushered into the presidential mansion anyway.

The improbable adventure of Harvey and Paula Darden, Obama supporters from Georgia, took place on Veterans Day, two weeks before Virginia socialites Tareq and Michaele Salahi infamously crashed a White House state dinner.

The Dardens mistakenly showed up a day early for a tour scheduled through their congressman. The White House and Secret Service said the Dardens went through the appropriate security screenings and were allowed into the breakfast as a courtesy because there were no public tours the day they arrived.

That explanation was news to Harvey Darden, 67, a retired pharmacist, who said he and his wife never were told about the breakfast. They thought they were simply starting their tour until they were ushered into the East Room, offered a buffet spread and told they would be meeting the president.

“The further we got into the White House, the more surprised we were,” Darden told the Associated Press.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said agents performed the same screening procedures on the Dardens that were used for other breakfast guests: They checked the Dardens’ names and did a criminal background check.

Because the Dardens were able to pass Secret Service vetting, they were allowed to attend the breakfast for veterans as a “nice gesture,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

He added that it is not unusual for White House staff to take people who are cleared in for tours to other events if there is space.