The Secret Service is continuing its investigation into who brought a baggie of cocaine into the West Wing of the White House, where it was discovered a week ago.
Agents found the powder in a small, clear plastic bag during a routine sweep of the building on July 2, while President Joe Biden was at Camp David with members of his family for the holiday weekend.
The White House complex was briefly evacuated as a precaution, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told Newsweek earlier in the week.
The fire department determined the substance was not hazardous, and an initial test came back positive for cocaine. A more sensitive lab test confirmed the powder was cocaine earlier this week.
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Where Was It Found?
The cocaine was found in a lobby of the West Wing, where many staffers and official visitors enter and was discovered on the floor of the busy area, The Associated Press reported.
The New York Times reported that it was found near an area where guests are screened for security and leave their phones in small cubby holes.
The AP reported that the area is also open to staff-led tours of the West Wing, which are scheduled for nonworking hours on the weekends and evenings. There were tours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday last week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
The invitation-only tours are led by White House staff for friends, family and other guests. Most staffers who work in the complex can request an evening or weekend tour slot, but there is often a long waiting list.
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Secret Service Investigation Underway
An investigation into the cause and manner of how the drugs entered the White House is pending, Guglielmi told Newsweek earlier this week.
The agency, which is responsible for security at the White House, is combing through through visitor logs and CCTV footage in an effort to identify the person or persons responsible.
Rep. James Comer, the Republican Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, sent a letter on Friday to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle requesting a staff-level briefing on the incident on July 14.
“The presence of illegal drugs in the White House is unacceptable and a shameful moment in the White House’s history,” Comer said in the letter. “This incident has raised additional concerns with the Committee regarding the level of security maintained at the White House.”
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What Biden and White House Has Said
Biden has been briefed on the investigation into the discovery of cocaine, Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday.
Biden said it is “incredibly important” for the security agency to determine how it got there, she said. “We have confidence that the Secret Service will get to the bottom of this.”
At a briefing on Friday, Jean-Pierre called out “irresponsible reporting” after a reporter asked if she could say whether or not the drugs belonged to a member of the Biden family.
“You know, there has been some irresponsible reporting about the family, and so I got to call that out here,” she said.
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“As you know—and the media outlets reported this—the Biden family was not here. They were not here. They were at Camp David. They were not here Friday. They were not here Saturday. They were not here Sunday. They were not even here Monday. They came back on Tuesday. So to ask that question is actually incredibly irresponsible.”
