the salahis were no shows as was the white house social secretary desiree rogers. three secret service agents have been placed on administrative leave with pay following an internal investigation. let's listen to mark sullivan being asked the question a lot of people want the answer to. why? >> how in the world could this couple get passed the secret service without having their names on the list, without having their socials in advance, and get right up to the president of the united states? >> sir, i asked myself that question a thousand times over the last week. what we keep coming back to here is that procedures weren't followed. again, when we have found is when we pold the procedures, when we -- when we go by the protocols we have, these type of situations don't occur. >> larry: let's get into it with the panel to kick things off conk congressman bennie thompson. in washington, as well, anita mcbride, former chief of staff to first lady laura bush. in chicago, laura schwartz, former white house director of events during the clinton administration. good to see

íí >> larry: let's hear how white house spokesperson robert gibbs defended social secretary desiree rogers>> the president, the first lady, and the entire white house staff are grateful for the job that she does and things she has done a terrific and wonderful job pulling off a lot of big and important events here at the white house. >> did she invite herself to the state dinner or a guest -- did the president invite her or -- >> no. that's a real question. do not fan it off. did she invite herself or did the president ask her? her name was on that list and social secretaries are the ones that put the names on the list. >> was she at the dinner? yes. she's the social secretary. she had the primary -- primary secretary for running the dinner. i'm going to get back to weightier topics like 98,000 men and women in afghanistan. >> larry: congressman thompson, do we understand you right, you did not intend to subpoena miss rogers? >> that's correct. >> larry: the white house would probably not honor the subpoena if you did, right. >> larry, the issue is white house security. director sullivan t

so for desiree rogers did not beer, for the white house, mr. gets offhandedly say at a white house briefing yesterday, may you receive an official notice from the white house, we didn't. he said that white house staffers don't testify before congress. that is untrue. i was on the banking committee in 1994 during the whitewater hearings when president clinton sent up george stephanopoulos, maggie williams who was clinton's chief of staff, said of the presidents council and also set up the previous council, set up mark, the press secretary. all to testify before congress. and yet on this issue where we talk about the security of the president of the united states, the person who made the decision will not be a. i think it is wrong, stonewalling and a front or to be. this was a bipartisan request, mr. chairman. a bipartisan request to the white house which prides itself on being open, cooperation. but in this incidents they are stonewalling. for our committee to work with a white house that has to be an element of trust. they have breached that tr

i believe we should subpoena desiree rogers. we are talking about an administrative decision to have people or not have people standing with the secret service and to change its policy of at least 20 years' standing. this is an incomplete hearing. this is have a hearing. we have the secret service that has taken its responsibility. >> a the solelyalahis were not n the list. the social secretaries office or party planners. the reason why we have mr. sullivan here is to explain this from a security standpoint. he can name a number of these persons as we go forward. other members of the committee are reminded that, under the committee rules, opening statements may be submitted for the record. our sole witness is mr. mark sullivan. he was sworn in as the 22nd director of the united states secret service on may 31, 2006. mr. sullivan has been the recipient of numerous awards for superior performance throughout his 26-year tenure with the secret service, including a distinguished presidential rank award in 2005. welcome, mr. sullivan.

so desiree rogers is not supposed to be here -- at a white house briefing yesterday mr. chairman you received a notice. we certainly didn't. he said that white house staffers don't testify before congress. that is untrue. i was on the banking committee in 1994 during the whitewater air as when president clinton said george stepanov list, maggie williams, hillary clinton's chief of staff, president's council and also sent at the previous council, senator mark aaron press secretary. all testified before congress and even on this issue when we're talking about the security of the president of the united states a person who made that decision is not going to be here. i think it's wrong and stonewalling and i think it confronts our committee. this is a bipartisan request for the white house which prides itself for being open, which prides itself on cooperation. in this incident they are stonewalling. and for a committee to work with the white house of an element of trust they have breached that trust and i am going to do all he can to work with you to issue subpoenas to have

. >> has there been any concerns about desiree rogers' performance prior to this instance? >> no. >> no one has questioned the president or told the president that she is very last-minute person, poor planner? >> you all have been to and seen either whether you are part of a pool, whether some of you have been to receptions, the remarkable work that they have done in pulling off a lot of events here. the first family is quite pleased with per performance, and i've heard nothing uttered what you talked about. >> what about the issues of her being in fashion squares earlier in the administration? it's now been raised, it's now public. you saw it in the magazines her pick tore yals, saw her on the cover. >> i get "sports illustrated" in my house. i don't get -- >> could you talk -- but could you talk -- seriously, could you talk about that? was there concerned in this white house that she came out being some might call her the bell of the ball, overshadowing the first lady? >> i don't know. >> it's been bantered around washington. it's in democratic circles and republican circ

media has reported that desiree rogers, the white house social secretary, was listed as a guest for the event and hosting her own table. do you know if this was, in fact, the case? >> i don't know anything about that, sir.4)g'm" >> okay. and if the secretw, service had question as to whether or not a very important person was, in fact, authorized to attend the event, would ms. rogers be a logical person to contact in a case like that? >> again, sir, i would not know. i think that she would have -- i would think that there's several people working within her office and i do know for this particular event we had contacts from within her office that we were dealing with. i'm not sure, in fact, if it was her directly or other people who worked for her. >> okay. and again, throughout your time as director of the secret service, were representatives from the white house staff stationed at checkpoints for these types of events like this -- i think you answered it, beneficial in the future. you said yes. that's your position. a few other things, too that i want to run by you. when reviewing th