GOP Lawmakers Denounce ‘Failure’ as Secret Service Abruptly Ends Investigation Into White House Cocaine Mystery With No Culprit Identified

The Secret Service on Friday is ending its nearly two-week-long investigation into how a bag of cocaine ended up in the West Wing of the White House without identifying any suspects. The abrupt end of the probe was greeted with jeers by House Republicans.Secret Service agents briefed members of the House Oversight Committee on Thursday in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol Building, telling the lawmakers that they will officially end the investigation on Friday without finding any clues as to who may have left the drugs, which were found in the lower level of the West Wing near the Situation Room. Speaking outside of the secure room, one member of the Oversight Committee, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, said agents told her and her colleagues that the agency “narrowed down 500 people as the potential source of cocaine in the White House.” Another GOP member of the Oversight Committee, Congressman Tim Burchett, called the investigation a “failure” and “ridiculous” after he emerged from the briefing. In a statement Thursday, the Secret Service said the evacuation of the West Wing when the cocaine was found on July 2 was to “ensure that the found substance was not a chemical or radiological material that threatened the security of the White House.” While the FBI forensic lab tested the bag of drugs for fingerprints and possible DNA, the Secret Service said it reviewed “days” worth of security camera footage covering the area where the drugs were found, but the review yielded no indication of who may have left behind the substance. The chairman of the Oversight Committee, Congressman James Comer, had asked for Thursday’s briefing in a letter sent to the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle.“In order to assist the Committee with its investigation, please provide a staff level briefing on this matter by July 14,” Mr. Comer wrote to the director. According to CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, federal law enforcement officials, including the FBI, were reviewing DNA samples, visitor logs, and security tapes. The outlet also reported that investigators were pessimistic about uncovering the identity of the culprit, given that the area where the drug was found is so “heavily trafficked.” Republican members of Congress raised the prospect of a member of the Biden family being the source of the cocaine, given that the president’s troubled son, Hunter, who frequently visits the White House, has a history of cocaine addiction. Administration officials have taken umbrage with such questions, though. When asked about the matter at a press briefing on Friday, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, dodged the question and instead scolded the reporter who had asked.“Can you say once and for all whether the cocaine belonged to the Biden family?” the reporter asked. The press secretary then sternly said that the members of the press were derelict in their responsibility as honest brokers. “There has been some irresponsible reporting about the family, so I’ve got to call that out here,” she said. “I’ve been very clear … the Biden family was not here. They were at Camp David.”“To ask that question is incredibly irresponsible,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.

GOP Lawmakers Denounce ‘Failure’ as Secret Service Abruptly Ends Investigation Into White House Cocaine Mystery With No Culprit Identified

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