Secret Service: We Can't Solve the Cocaine Mystery

Agency closes its investigation into the West Wing discovery
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 13, 2023 11:03 AM CDT
Secret Service: We Can't Solve the Cocaine Mystery
The White House is seen in a file photo.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Whoever brought cocaine to the White House appears to be off the hook. The Secret Service said Thursday it has closed its investigation into the unusual case without discovering any answers, reports USA Today. A small plastic baggie of cocaine was found in a West Wing lobby on July 2, but no fingerprints or DNA turned up, the agency said, per the AP. Complicating the investigation is that the lobby is used not only by White House staffers but by tour groups, whose participants leave their phones and other belongings at the site.

"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 a statement. Examination of video surveillance shed no light, either, per NBC News. The discovery caused a brief evacuation of the White House, though President Biden and first lady Jill Biden were at Camp David at the time. (More White House stories.)

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