Secret Service confirms marijuana was also discovered during the Biden administration – sparking more questions about security
by Joey Garrison and Bart Jansen
Published 11:20 am ET July 13, 2023
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON − The Secret Service concluded an investigation into cocaine found at the White House but was unable to determine who brought it into the building − nor do officials have any suspects.
“At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence,” the Secret Service said in a statement Thursday.
The FBI found no DNA or fingerprints on the baggie of cocaine, according to a summary of the findings by the Secret Service, providing no leads into who brought the cocaine into the White House.
The Secret Service confirmed Thursday that marijuana was found twice at the White House in 2022, sparking more questions about security after cocaine was discovered there earlier this month.
Secret Service officials talked pot to members of Congress during a Thursday briefing on the investigation into the cocaine found in the West Wing on Sunday, July 2, with Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert then telling reporters about it.
The Secret Service Uniformed Division later confirmed details to DailyMail.com, noting that ‘small amounts of marijuana’ were found in June and September of 2022.
The Secret Service’s review also included sifting through surveillance footage and visitor logs of several hundred individuals who had access to the West Wing lobby where the cocaine was found.
“Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered,” Secret Service officials said in the summary.
A suspicious powder, later identified as cocaine following tests, was found on July 2 while President Joe Biden was away from the White House at the Camp David presidential retreat. It prompted a brief evacuation for precautionary purposes.
The Secret Service said an agent found the cocaine within a storage box where White House visitors drop their cellphones inside the West Wing lobby, which serves as a reception room for visitors of White House personnel.
Olivia Dalton, principal deputy White House press secretary, said the White House is “reviewing the information” after receiving a Secret Service briefing on the outcome of their investigation.
The lack of a suspect was met with skepticism by Republicans. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the Secret Service shouldn’t end its investigation.
“You can’t tell me in the White House with 24/7 surveillance and a cubbyhole by a situation room you don’t know who left it there,” McCarthy told reporters. “The American people think that’s a farce.”
The White House had promised “appropriate consequences” if the individual who brought the cocaine into the White House was a White House employee.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre last week expressed confidence the Secret Service would “get to the bottom” of the cocaine discovery and said Biden believes it’s “very important” to find out what happened.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday his agency assisted the Secret Service by having lab personnel evaluate the white powder found at the White House.
“We have offered the full range of our assistance to the Secret Service if they want to use us for that purpose,” Wray said, but he referred further questions to the Secret Service.
White House staff are authorized to give West Wing tours to visitors who go through background screenings before being allowed on the White House campus. Guests and staff are subject to metal-detector screenings when they enter the White House premises.
Visitors enter the White House in the White House lobby, a high-traffic area where they are asked to leave their cellphones in small boxes.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight, in a letter last week requested a briefing from the Secret Service on the discovery of the cocaine as part of its own investigation.
“The presence of illegal drugs in the White House is unacceptable and a shameful moment in the White House’s history,” Comer wrote.
sources for report
Secret Service concludes investigation into White House cocaine without identifying culprit by Joey Garrison and Bart Jansen
Published 11:20 am ET July 13, 2023 USA TODAY
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/07/13/secret-service-ends-white-house-cocaine-investigation-with-no-leads/70409539007/
Drugs have been found at the White House THREE TIMES since 2022: Secret Service confirms marijuana was also discovered during the Biden administration – sparking more questions about security
By Morgan Phillips, U.S. Political Reporter and Katelyn Caralle, U.S. Political Reporter and Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com Published: 17:06 EDT, 13 July 2023 | Updated: 18:15 EDT, 13 July 2023
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12297141/Drugs-White-House-THREE-TIMES-2022.html
