White House cocaine was found near Situation Room, as administration rep can’t rule out Hunter
The bag of cocaine found in the West Wing of the White House was located near the Situation Room and one floor below the Oval Office — as a Biden administration spokesman declined Thursday to rule out first son Hunter Biden as the source of the illicit drug.
The dime-sized bag of white powder was found Sunday night in an entrance area cubby located between a foyer and a lobby, near where some official vehicles park — such as the vice presidential limo or SUV, NBC News reported.
An official close to the matter previously told The Post that the cubby is used by both White House employees and visitors to store phones and personal items that are not taken into other parts of the complex.
The basement entrance is one of two to the West Wing and is located on the same level as the Situation Room and White House Mess. The other entrance, located on the first floor, leads to a more formal lobby steps from the Roosevelt Room, Cabinet Room and Oval Office.
The Secret Service probe into who left the drug could wrap up as soon as Monday, NBC also reported. The protective agency is scrutinizing visitor logs and security footage to determine who put the cocaine in what the White House has described as a “highly trafficked” area of the executive mansion.
“We are doing everything possible to attempt to identify who may have brought this item into the White House,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Post on Thursday. “And that includes every resource, that includes every option available to us or to the federal government.”
Here's everything to know about cocaine being found in the White House
The Secret Service concluded its investigation into cocaine found in the West Wing of the White House after just 11 days without identifying a suspect.
Investigators also told lawmakers they were unable to determine exactly when the cocaine was left in the locker due to the lack of footage.
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The executive mansion was briefly evacuated after the cocaine was found.
An initial test came back positive for the drug, and further testing by the FBI confirmed it was cocaine.
President Biden’s staff is subject to routine drug tests, but White House visitors — including those given West Wing tours by invitation only — are not.
Biden was not at the White House at the time the substance was found.
According to multiple reports, that includes testing the bag for fingerprints as well as DNA evidence. Guglielmi declined to comment further about what he called an open investigation.
“I would do a whole interview on everyone who had access to those rooms. I’m sure there are key fobs to that room,” an anonymous NYPD detective told The Post. “They would interview everyone and go from there. I’m sure there are cameras and everything there.”
“They could get DNA from it, but they have to get a hit,” the detective added, referring to the perpetrator needing to be already present in law enforcement data systems from some prior interaction with police.
The White House has declined to make substantive comments on the investigation, pointing reporters instead to the Secret Service.
On Thursday, administration spokesman Andrew Bates was asked about a post by former President Donald Trump on Truth Social, in which the 77-year-old asked: “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 & Joe Biden.”
“Are you willing to say that that’s not the case, that they don’t belong to them?” a reporter queried.
“I don’t have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act,” answered Bates, referencing a federal law preventing executive branch employees from political activity. It’s unclear how the act applied to the simple request that Bates confirm that the drug did not belong to either the president or his son — who has acknowledged a past crack cocaine addiction in his memoir.
Later in the gaggle with reporters on board Air Force One en route to South Carolina, Bates was asked: “If the Secret Service is able to determine the individual responsible, will the Secret Service and the — and — will the White House commit to transparency in this, in making that information public?”
“I’m going to defer to the Secret Service professionals who are carrying this out,” Bates answered. “I’m just not going to engage on hypotheticals about it.”
The discovery by a Secret Service agent patrolling the West Wing forced a brief evacuation, after which a DC hazmat team determined the powdery substance was cocaine. An additional test by investigators on Wednesday confirmed the drug’s presence.
President Biden and the first lady were out of Washington at the time of the incident, having left for Camp David on Friday with Hunter.
The Biden trio, along with other family members, returned to Washington from the presidential retreat on Tuesday for Independence Day festivities.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday that staffers had led West Wing tours on Friday, June 30; Saturday, July 1; and Sunday, July 2. She declined to say how many individuals attended each event.
Some officials have cautioned that the culprit is unlikely to be conclusively identified due to the sheer number of people who pass through the area on a regular basis.
According to White House visitor logs reviewed by The Post, more than 4,000 entries for West Wing tours alone were recorded in March, the most recent month for which records are available.
