The Secret Service announced this week that the agency has finished its investigation into the mysterious baggie of cocaine that was found in the White House earlier this month with finding the culprit.
The agency said that the case was closed due to a lack of forensic evidence coupled with the fact that the class A drug was found an area in which around 500 people passed through at the time it was believed to have been discarded.
It was determined by the agency that because the cocaine amounted to around 0.007 ounces, meaning it would only be a misdemeanor offense in the District of Columbia, it would be a waste of public resources to interview 500 people.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Gugliemi told NBC News that conducting such a vast amount of interviews may also infringe on civil rights and that without physical evidence, a confession would likely be necessary.
‘Yes, you could have a consensual interview. But we have no evidence to approach them,’ Gugliemi said.
President Joe Biden has been able to avoid facing the latest White House scandal as he escaped Washington, D.C. for meetings across Europe this week
Ex-president Donald Trump wondered on TruthSocial how with all of the security cameras available in the West Wing, investigators couldn’t find the culprit
The Secret Service announced Thursday that the investigation was closed
Former US Attorney and acting administrator of the DEA under President Barack Obama, Chuck Rosenberg, echoed Gugliemi’s remarks telling NBC News that the agency has to make calls on what to investigate and what not to investigate.
‘They could have done the interviews, but at the end of the day it’s a long walk through dry sand. They have finite resources and it’s OK for them to decide some things are worth their time and some things are not worth their time,’ Rosenberg said.
Secret Service agents found the white powder during a routine White House sweep on July 2, in a heavily trafficked West Wing lobby where staff go in and out, and tour groups gather to drop their phones and other belongings.
‘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.
The presence of cocaine at the White House prompted a flurry of criticism and questions from Republicans, who received a closed briefing Thursday on the results of the investigation.
‘There is no equal justice,’ House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday. ‘Anything revolving around ‘Biden, Inc.’ gets treated different than any other American and that’s got to stop.’
Ex-President Donald Trump wrote his skepticism of about his skepticism on his Truth Social platform.
‘Despite all of the cameras pointing directly at the ‘scene of the crime,’ and the greatest forensics anywhere in the World, they just can’t figure it out? They know the answer, and so does everyone else!,’ the former reality TV host wrote.
One of Trump’s 2024 Republican primary opponents Nikki Haley told Tucker Carlson in an interview Friday that she believes the closing of the investigation is a ‘cover-up’
While Trump’s acolyte and 2024 Republican primary opponent Nikki Haley told Tucker Carlson in an interview Friday, without presenting any evidence, that she believes the closing of the investigation is a ‘cover-up.’
‘I strongly believe this is a cover-up. For either Hunter [Biden], or someone very close to the President and they don’t want to say who it is,’ the former ambassador to the United Nations said.
‘I know the area where the locker is. People don’t just go in and out of there. It is either the president, the vice president, cabinet members, or deputy directors. Nobody else is going in there,’ Haley added.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden believed it was ‘incredibly important’ for the Secret Service to get to the bottom of how the drugs ended up in the White House.
The Secret Service is responsible for securing the White House and led the investigation.
Biden wasn’t there at the time of the discovery. He was at Camp David with members of his family for the holiday weekend.
The complex was briefly evacuated as a precaution when the white powder was found.
The fire department was called in to test the substance on the spot to determine whether it was hazardous, and the initial test came back negative for a biohazard but positive for cocaine.
The bag was sent for a secondary, more sensitive lab analysis. Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center analyzed the item for any biothreats. Tests conducted at the facility came back negative.
The cocaine and packaging underwent further forensics testing, including advanced fingerprint and DNA work at the FBI’s crime laboratory, according to the summary. The FBI also did chemical testing.
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
Meanwhile, Secret Service investigators put together a list of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the drugs were found.
Anyone who comes through the White House must give identifying information and pass through security before entering.
But the lab results didn’t turn up latent fingerprints or DNA, so agents can’t compare anything to the possible suspect pool. White House staff are fingerprinted; participants in tour groups are not.
Video of the West Executive street lobby entrance did not identify the person or provide any solid investigative leads, the Secret Service said.
The lobby is open to staff-led tours of the West Wing, which are scheduled for nonworking hours on the weekends and evenings. Those tours are invitation-only and 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 wait list. There were tours on the day, a Sunday, the drugs were found, as well as on the two preceding days.
