Cocaine found at White House - Draw your own conclusions!!

Secret Service investigates cocaine found at White House
Published 35 minutes ago
By Nadine Yousif
BBC News

The US Secret Service is investigating how cocaine was found at the White House on Sunday night, with visitor logs and footage combed for clues.

The discovery in the West Wing, which contains the Oval Office and other working areas for presidential aides and staff, led to a brief evacuation.

Secret Service agents found the powder during a routine inspection in an area that is accessible to tour groups.

President Joe Biden and his family were at Camp David in Maryland at the time.

A senior law enforcement official told the BBC's US partner CBS News the substance was found in a storage facility routinely used by White House staff and guests to store mobile phones.

The White House complex was closed as a precaution at around 20:45 local time (00:45 GMT) on Sunday after it was discovered.

A preliminary test later confirmed the substance was cocaine.

The Secret Service will lead a full review of how it got into the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday.

White House staff are permitted to give tours of some parts of the West Wing to friends and family. Visitors who are not accredited staff must store mobile phones and other personal belongings in cubicles.

"It was in one of the cubbies," a source familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

Speaking at a daily press briefing on Wednesday, Ms Jean-Pierre said that the area in which the cocaine was discovered is a "heavily travelled area" of the White House.

"We have confidence that the Secret Service are going to get to the bottom of this," she said.

President Biden was briefed on the matter, Ms Jean-Pierre added.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, a top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to the Secret Service's director with a list of questions about how such a drug could end up in one of the world's most carefully guarded buildings.

He asked about the White House's security and visitor screening process, and how many times drugs have previously been discovered at the presidential mansion.

Cocaine is a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has a high potential for abuse, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The West Wing is a large, multi-level part of the White House that contains the offices of the president of the United States, including the Oval Office and the Situation Room.

It also houses the offices of the vice-president, the White House chief of staff, the press secretary, and hundreds of other staff who have access.

Oh yeah that's a real hard one to figure out *COUGH* Hunter Biden *COUGH*

White House cocaine: US Secret Service ends investigation
Published 50 minutes ago
The Secret Service said the investigation had ended due to a lack of physical evidence
By Michael Sheils McNamee | BBC News

The US Secret Service has closed its investigation into the discovery of cocaine in the White House.

It said it had attempted to determine a suspect through fingerprints, DNA traces, and video evidence, but had not been able to do so.

The cocaine was discovered earlier this month in a vestibule leading to the lobby of the West Executive Avenue entrance to the White House.

President Joe Biden and his family were at Camp David in Maryland at the time.

The small plastic bag used to contain the drugs was found in an area which can be accessed by members of the public, and where mobile phones and other personal devices are stored before entering the White House.

After it was first discovered, safety closures were put in place so it could be determined that the substance "was not a chemical or radiological material that threatened the security of the White House", the Secret Service said in a statement.

Tests of the material determined it was cocaine, and further analysis was carried out on the composition of the substance. Advanced fingertip and DNA analysis on its packaging were also carried out by the FBI's crime laboratory.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service continued to investigate how the substance arrived in the White House, reviewing security systems in the day leading up to the discovery of the cocaine.

It produced "an index of several hundred individuals" who "may have accessed" the area where the drug was found.

On Wednesday, the Secret Service received the forensic evidence back from the FBI. This showed it did not have enough DNA evidence for comparison, and had not developed "latent fingerprints".

"Therefore, the Secret Service is not able to compare evidence against the known pool of individuals," it said in a statement.

It added that the surveillance footage had also not been of use, and it would mean trying to single out someone from "hundreds of individuals" who passed through the vestibule - without having any physical evidence to do so.

The Secret Service added that it it "takes its mission to protect US leaders, facilities, and events seriously" and it is "constantly adapting to meet the needs of the current and future security environment".

Cocaine is a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has a high potential for abuse, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.