Salahis cite Holmes Norton as the reason they plead the 5th

Alleged White House gate crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi say there is only one lawmaker responsible for their plan to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights at a House Homeland Security Committee meeting Wednesday: Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)

Tareq Salahi told the Loudon Times Mirror that the District delegate and committee member already believes they are guilty of crashing the Nov. 24 state dinner, despite their claim that they were invited.

Holmes Norton sent out a press release in November in which she labeled the Salahis "con artists," who "bamboozled" White House
security, and as a result, Salahi says he was advised by his attorneys not to speak during Wednesday's hearing.

The couple plans to hold a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the Capitol where Salahi said they will lay out the evidentiary chain that proves their claim.

Despite his plans to stay mum in front of Congress, Salahi characterized the couple's appearance in front of the committee as
"historic," saying that "Not since the 1950s has Congress held hearings of such a historic nature."

Congress held hearings on White House security in 1950, after two Cuban nationalists stormed the Blair House, where then-President Harry Truman (D) was staying.