Washington ? The couple who crashed the Obama administration’s first state dinner communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denies that she helped the couple get in.

Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House on Monday evening that she never said or implied she would get Michaele and Tareq Salahi into the Nov. 24 White House dinner.

This is the latest twist in the unfolding mystery of how the two reality show wannabes managed to get into the highly secured event and shake hands with President Barack Obama. Also on Monday, a House committee chairman asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.

In a similar incident a month before, the Salahis sneaked in through a back entrance to a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner at which Obama spoke.

WTTG-TV, which first reported the incident at the Black Caucus dinner, said that when the Salahis showed up at the dinner they were followed by TV cameras from Bravo, which airs the “Real Housewives” reality programs, and were turned away at the door.

Most the attendees at the event did not have access to Obama.