Secret Service ends White House cocaine investigation with no leads

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• Secret Service ends White House cocaine investigation with no leads
• You are unable to access washingtontimes.com
• The Secret Service found cocaine at the White House, AP sources say
• Secret Service probes how a small bag of cocaine got into the White House
• ‘Reagan gave us something to rap about’: how hip-hop has interacted with US politics
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• Why the Secret Service closed its investigation of cocaine found at the White House without conducting interviews

A 41-year-old man caught pouring cocaine down a toilet when gardaí raided his house has been jailed for three years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Officers found the cocaine during "routine patrols," a Secret Service official said. Asked about the incident Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre emphasized that the investigation is under the Secret Service's purview and said she is "confident" they will get to the bottom of the situation. The news was first broken after several news organizations reportedly heard firefighters discussing the discovery on public radio channels. He, first lady Dr. Jill Biden and members of their family departed for Camp David on Friday. They returned to the White House on Tuesday for an event with the National Education Association and Fourth of July festivities.

Secret Service ends White House cocaine investigation with no leads

Agents had gathered the names of several hundred people who may have passed by that area. Comer, a Kentucky Republican, later said in a statement that the Secret Service needs to reassess its security operations to ensure illegal substances do not enter the White House. President Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden were not at the White House when the cocaine was found, as they spent the weekend at Camp David before returning for Fourth of July festivities.

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Secret Service Closes White House Cocaine Case Without Any Suspects - The New York Times

Secret Service Closes White House Cocaine Case Without Any Suspects.

Posted: Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

News publications like CNN, The Hill, and the AP reported officials were working to identify who was responsible for bringing the substance into the federal building. The claim that the cocaine was found in the White House library was bolstered by initial reports stating the substance was found in a library, citing a dispatch call to D.C. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told The New York Times that the dispatch call was incorrect. According to the AP, Secret Service agents discovered the substance while doing a routine security scan of the building.

The Secret Service found cocaine at the White House, AP sources say

In the letter, Chairman Comer emphasizes that the alarming development requires the Oversight Committee to assess White House security practices and determine whose failures led to an evacuation of the building and finding of the illegal substance. The Secret Service is not ruling out any White House personnel, guests or visitors. At this point, one leading theory is that the bag was brought in by an individual on a White House tour of the West Wing, according to senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter.

When the unknown powdered substance was discovered, sections of the White House were evacuated as the Washington Fire Department was called to the scene and performed a field test that identified the substance as cocaine. The sample was sent to the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center at Fort Detrick, Maryland, the Secret Service statement said. That testing confirmed it was cocaine and determined it was not a biological threat like anthrax or ricin. The unusual breach of White House security was found July 2 when a uniformed Secret Service officer spotted a small plastic baggie in a storage cubby at the West Executive Avenue entrance on the ground level.

Colleagues, supervisors, friends, and community members uniformly praise her character and work ethic and consider her a role model, noting her demonstrated commitment to serving others. "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. White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed to reporters on July 5, 2023, that there had been tours during the weekend the cocaine was discovered at the White House, including tours held on the same day. "Where this was discovered is a heavily traveled area where many White House -- West Wing, I should be even more specific, West Wing visitors come through this particular area," Jean-Pierre said.

After that news broke, social media posts about the discovery rapidly spread, with various degrees of legitimacy. We found posts on Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and Facebook making various claims about where the illicit substance was found and to whom it allegedly belonged. For instance, the below-displayed post claimed the cocaine was found in an area often occupied by U.S. President Joe Biden, while other posts asserted that the drug was left behind by his son, Hunter Biden. The U.S. Secret Service has stopped looking for the owner of a dime bag of cocaine left behind in the White House over the July 4th weekend, closing its investigation because of a lack of physical evidence. The Secret Service led the investigation into how the cocaine ended up at the White House and said as part of its review, it would look over surveillance footage and entrance logs to determine who had access to the area where it was found.

Why the Secret Service closed its investigation of cocaine found at the White House without conducting interviews

The saga over the cocaine began just before the Fourth of July, when the White House was temporarily closed after an "unknown item" was discovered by Secret Service officers on July 2. A preliminary test conducted by the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department soon after the substance was found indicated it was cocaine. Secondary testing of powder found in the West Wing lobby of the White House was confirmed to be cocaine. President Biden was briefed on the investigation and said it is “incredibly important” for the Secret Service to determine how it got there. Both of these analyses were conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's crime laboratory given their expertise in this area and independence from the investigation. Testing conducted by the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department indicated that the found powder tested preliminarily positive for the presence of cocaine.

Secret Service ends investigation into cocaine found at White House - NBC News

Secret Service ends investigation into cocaine found at White House.

Posted: Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Department of Homeland Security's National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, which analyzed the item for any biothreats. Tests conducted at this facility came back negative and gave formal confirmation that the substance was not biological in nature. The Secret Service is running the investigation, which will include consulting cameras and entrance logs, the official added. The probe could take about two weeks, and officials caution that there may not be a resolution if no forensic material is found to identify someone. WASHINGTON — A formal lab test of the white substance found at the White House on Sunday has come back positive for cocaine, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Wednesday. That’s not all that makes this hourlong project such an interesting choice for Disney, which produced the documentary via Andscape – ESPN’s race and culture platform.

American Rapper Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus Jr. claimed on a webshow in 2014 that he smoked marijuana in a White House bathroom in 2013. Willie Nelson similarly claims in his 1988 autobiography he smoked a joint on the White House roof sometime during President Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Villanova University star basketball player Gary McLain told Sports Illustrated in 1987 that he was “wired on cocaine” during his visit to meet President Ronald Reagan at the White House following the team’s 1985 NCAA championship. The substance was discovered in a work area in the west wing by members of the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service conducting routine rounds through the building, the secret service told Forbes.

Mr. Mosley regularly donates to school and local police department fundraising events, provides groceries and other necessities to those in need, and supports new businesses. There was no surveillance video footage found that provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the found substance in this area. 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. At this time, the Secret Service's investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence.

Visitors, contractors, military personnel and staff members use the storage cubbies to drop off electronic devices and personal items not permitted in some areas of the West Wing. The vestibule is near the Situation Room, which is out of service for renovations; an alternative secure meeting room is being used for classified briefings during construction. WASHINGTON — The mystery of who brought cocaine into the White House remains unsolved. The Secret Service investigation has concluded with no usable forensic or video evidence identifying the person responsible, three Secret Service officials familiar with the investigation said.

Forensic work on the cocaine bag continued Thursday, though officials are setting low expectations that they will be able to identify who left it. The cocaine was found on July 2 in a vestibule off the lobby of a lower-level West Wing entrance, stashed in a cubbyhole near the Situation Room, where officials store cellphones during meetings. The U.S. Secret Service has closed its investigation into a small bag of cocaine found just inside a different entrance to the building. Video of the West Executive street lobby entrance did not identify the person or provide any solid investigative leads, the Secret Service said. The Secret Service is responsible for securing the White House and is leading the investigation.

The Washington Post reported that the area was near boxes where White House staff instruct visitors to leave their phones before entering the West Wing. We found social media posts that claimed the cocaine was found in various places around the White House, such as the above-displayed Facebook post that claimed it was found in an area where President Biden often worked. "The Secret Service must reassess their security operations to prevent illegal substances from entering the White House," Comer said in a statement.

Anyone who comes through the White House must give identifying information and pass through security before entering. 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 presence of cocaine at the White House prompted a flurry of criticism and questions from Republicans, who requested a briefing Thursday on the probe. 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. U.S. 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. The agency said there was no surveillance footage found that provided investigative leads or other ways for investigators to identify who the cocaine belonged to.