A white substance found inside the White House over the holiday weekend was confirmed to be cocaine.
The White House was evacuated around 8:45 PM on July 3 after the substance was discovered by members of the Secret Service Uniform Division during a routine patrol of the building.
"The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending," the Secret Service said in a subsequent statement, per NPR. The agency will review surveillance footage and visitor logs as part of its investigation.
The location of where the cocaine was discovered has become a point of controversy.
Initial reports claimed the drugs were discovered in the ground floor library of the presidential residence. The Washington Post quoted a dispatch from DC department’s hazardous materials team, in which a firefighter stated, “We have a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride.”
Newsmax Chief White House Correspondent James Rosen reported just after 2 PM on July 4 that the Secret Service said the cocaine was found “in a work area in the West Wing” and that “the cocaine was ‘in a baggie’ when discovered, not loose or concealed.” The area is reportedly accessible to both White House staff and guests.
President Joe Biden was at Camp David at the time of the evacuation. His son, Hunter Biden, was also at Camp David. The younger Biden has publicly acknowledged his crack cocaine addiction. The Biden family later returned to the White House on July 4 to celebrate Independence Day.
Many online commenters suggested that the location of the drugs could plainly indicate they belong to Hunter Biden.
“You have got to be kidding me,” tweeted Ari Fleischer, a member of President George W. Bush’s administration, around 11 AM on July 4. “Cocaine was found at the WH and authorities aren’t saying exactly where it was found. If it’s the Old Executive Office Building, it’s likely staff. If it’s the mansion, it’s likely Hunter.”
Others denounced the suggestion that Hunter Biden brought cocaine into the building.
“I hope Hunter sues the hell out of everyone suggesting this,” wrote Chris D. Jackson, a Democrat who serves as the Tennessee Election Commissioner. “The White House Library is included in the White House tour, so it's reasonable to figure a visitor dropped or planted whatever was left.”
According to The Guardian:This would not be the first time illegal drugs entered the White House. The rapper Snoop Dogg said he’d smoked weed in a bathroom in 2013, and Willie Nelson confessed to smoking a joint on the White House roof during the presidency of Jimmy Carter.
The British actor Erkan Mustafa said he smoked marijuana and did a line of cocaine on a visit to the White [House] during first lady Nancy Reagan’s ‘Just Say No’ anti-drugs campaign. The Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick said in 2011 she’d tried and failed to spike President Richard Nixon’s tea with LSD in 1970.
