The Virginia couple who the White House says crashed last week's state dinner has found new lawyers, including an associate at Dewey & LeBoeuf who's a former federal prosecutor and former U.S. Navy SEAL, a Republican congressman said today.
The top Republican on the committee investigating the incident, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), said that he met on Wednesday with two lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf. One was named “Andreson” and is a former prosecutor, King said. He could not recall the name of the other lawyer.
Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Web site lists only one lawyer fitting King’s description: G. Derek Andreson, an associate in the firm’s D.C. office. Andreson did not immediately return a call requesting comment.
According to his firm profile, Andreson joined the firm this year after serving as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He was assigned to the financial fraud unit from 2005 until this year. Before law school at William & Mary, he six served years as a U.S. Navy SEAL assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command.
Paul Gardner of the Gardner Law Group in Baltimore previously said he represents the Salahis. He did not return a call requesting comment.
Dewey & LeBoeuf can expect some immediate work. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said at a hearing today that he’s directing his staff to draw up a subpoena for the Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi. The couple was invited to testify at the hearing. They declined. The committee could issue the subpoena as soon as next week.
“My door remains open. I hope they will be as willing to talk to Congress as they have been to talk to the media,” Thompson said.
King, speaking to reporters today, said his impression from the Wednesday meeting was that Andreson and his colleague are “first-rate, professional lawyers.” He said he expects the Salahis to show up eventually and invoke their constitutional right against self-incrimination. A spokesman for Dewey & LeBoeuf declined to comment.
UPDATE (3:02 p.m.): The Associated Press and Maryland's Daily Record report that Dewey & LeBoeuf D.C. partner Stephen Best is also representing the Salahis. He is co-chair of the firm's white collar defense group.
Best did not immediately return a call requesting comment.
It is really quite amazing that this couple will invoke their 5th Amendment rights against self incrimination when they have so adamantly insisted that they did not crash the state dinner but indeed were invited. One would think that they would be eager to set the record straight.
Posted by: Sherry | December 08, 2009 at 06:18 PM
They better get paid up front.
Posted by: Turk | December 03, 2009 at 04:08 PM
Per my story in today's Daily Record, Gardner's lawyer identifies the Salahis' new counsel as Stephen A. Best. Best did not immediately return my call for comment.
http://mddailyrecord.com/2009/12/02/gardner-hires-attorney-stops-representing-salahis/
Posted by: Caryn Tamber | December 03, 2009 at 02:49 PM