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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.
“At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
No DNA or fingerprints turned up 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 after a review that also included sifting through surveillance footage and visitor logs.
“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 Sunday, 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 the West Wing lobby, which serves as a reception room for visitors of White House personnel.
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.
The chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, asked whether the Secret Service rejected the FBI’s offer. Wray denied saying that, but said additional questions should go to the Secret Service as the lead agency conducting the investigation.
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 had expressed confidence that the Secret Service would “get to the bottom” of the cocaine discovery and said Biden think it’s “very important” to find out what happened.
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 at the White House lobby, a high-traffic area where they are asked to leave their cellphones in small boxes.
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