Salahis claim 'We were invited'

The Virginia couple alleged to have crashed last week's state dinner at the White House stressed in an interview Tuesday they had been "mischaracterized by the media."

While the White House maintains the two were not invited to the event, Michaele and Tareq Salahi told the Today show's Matt Lauer this morning that evidence, including a series of e-mail exchanges, would soon demonstrate otherwise.

"We were invited, not crashers, and there isn't anyone who would have the audacity or the poor behavior to do that," Michaele said, after noting she and her husband were neither profiting nor enjoying the media frenzy. "The White House... it is the house, and no one would do that, and certainly not us."

"In our view, it's clear to us [that we were invited], and based on the timeline, I think the American public is going to be extremely surprised with all of the details...," her husband later added.

Congressional lawmakers are still unsatisfied with those details, however, and are still calling for an extensive investigation into the Secret Service's mishap last week and ability to protect the president at future events.

"I have the utmost respect for the Secret Service. I think they do a terrific job," Rep. Peter King (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC last night, adding "those two should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"But obviously, something went wrong here and this was a terrible breach of security," he added. "And so this has to be fully investigated not so much even to find out who did the wrong thing, but why it happened and to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Nevertheless, the Salahis maintained Tuesday morning they were cooperating with investigators and would "continue to work with the Secret Service throughout this process." But they also said the furor surrounding their attendance at the state dinner -- from their portrayal in news media to the unfolding investigations -- had ultimately "destroyed" their lives.

"We knew the facts... everything will be heard, and right now, its been really unbearable to go through," Michaele explained.

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