According to officials, the cocaine found at the White House was left in a location that was frequently visited by tourists taking tours, not when President Joe Biden and his family were present.
As information about the drug’s discovery on Sunday in one of the most closely guarded buildings in the world emerged, the White House attempted to control the highly unusual story.
Initial reports of a white powder raised concerns of the kind of incident that frequently occurs in government buildings in Washington, DC, where unidentified powders discovered during searches or received through the mail are treated as potential chemical attacks.
read more: US: cocaine discovered in White House belonged to Biden’s son-Report
There was a brief evacuation as a result. The substance was initially thought to be marijuana, but preliminary testing by city fire department technicians revealed it was actually cocaine, setting off a whole new set of alarms.
The US Secret Service, which guards the White House, declared on Wednesday that it had “just confirmed that substance found was cocaine and our investigation is ongoing.”
After the Donald Trump administration, which included rumors that the Republican president had a habit of flushing papers down toilets, Biden has made it a priority to reinstate traditional decorum in the White House.
The 80-year-old Democrat, however, has been the subject of sleazy reporting regarding his troubled son Hunter’s private life, including the trained lawyer’s well-known struggle with severe drug addiction.
The cocaine revelation immediately sparked unfounded rumors that the recovering drug user was somehow to blame in right-wing circles.
On Wednesday, Trump joined the fray with a typical rambling, insult-filled statement that included the following: “Does anybody really believe that the COCAINE found in the West Wing of the White House, very close to the Oval Office, is for the use of anyone other than Hunter and Joe Biden?”
Reporters mostly avoided discussing NATO and geopolitics during a meeting between Biden and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, reflecting the uproar over their failed attempts to ask the president about his stance on cocaine.
The White House attempted to stop the rumors by stating that at least circumstantial evidence suggests that a visitor, not anyone associated with the Bidens, is to blame.
The drug was discovered in a location that was frequently visited by visitors who had been invited by White House staff members on tours of the West Wing, which includes the Oval Office, according to press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Visitors are requested to leave their cellphones in the lockers outside of the complex’s sensitive areas before entering those areas, and that is where the narcotic was reportedly discovered.
In the West Wing of the White House, this was “a heavily traveled area. Visitors pass through,” declared Jean-Pierre. Last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, these tours were conducted.
The chief spokesperson for Biden then emphasized that the first family was not present.
She claimed that the president, first lady, and their family had been absent over the weekend. “They left on Friday, and they just got back yesterday.”
We are confident that the Secret Service will find the solution to this, Jean-Pierre said in response to more inquiries.”
She did, however, mention that Biden had received a briefing and emphasized that all White House employees are subject to “rigorous guidelines that include drug testing.”
We certainly take that seriously, she said.
