Republicans Ask Why ‘Known Cocaine Addict’ Hunter Biden Wasn’t Questioned in White House Investigation, Denounce Probe’s Swift Closure

Republicans are turning up the heat on the White House and the Secret Service over the failure to identify who left a baggie of cocaine in the West Wing, denouncing the swift closure of the probe and indicating they’re not letting the story go away quietly. President Trump unloaded on the White House during his appearance on Fox News on Sunday, telling Maria Bartiromo he was incredulous that the White House didn’t know who was behind the cocaine deposit.“You know how many cameras they have opposite the front door of the Situation Room?” Mr. Trump asked. “I’ve gotten to know the Secret Service really well, and I can’t speak more highly of these people — they are incredible people … I believe that they know everything — they’re really smart and good at what they do.”Senator Cotton of Arkansas told Fox News’s Shannon Bream on Sunday that he has received no answers to a letter he sent the Secret Service. The White House “is supposed to be the most secure building in the world, yet the Secret Service closed down this investigation after just a few days,” Mr. Cotton said. He added that it was his understanding that “they barely conducted any interviews,” and that “I don’t think they interviewed the president’s son, who’s a known cocaine addict.”A former Fox News star who is a leading conservative, Tucker Carlson, regaled the crowd at the Turning Point USA convention this weekend with his thoughts on the matter. Whooping with laughter, Mr. Carlson joked that the discovery of the cocaine was his “favorite story of all time” because “it just explains all the behavior” of the Biden White House.Less amused was the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, who last week angrily chastised the press as “incredibly irresponsible” for asking if Hunter Biden was the cocaine culprit, pointing out that the Bidens were at Camp David when the cocaine was found. But Mr. Biden fils, a regular presence at the White House despite supposedly living in California, was spotted at the White House on the Friday before the discovery. Both the president and his son Hunter were on the premises until early evening that day.During the brief FBI and Secret Service investigation, no fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie, despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn’t identify a suspect, according to a summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by the Associated Press. The investigation ended after only 11 days without any leads.Secret Service agents found the white powder during a routine White House sweep on July 2, on the ground floor of the West Wing, near the Situation Room. The Secret Service said after concluding its investigation that too many people passed through the area for them to be able to identify a suspect.“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 the summary.It is possible the bag was left behind by one of the hundreds of visitors who traveled in and out of the building over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to talk about an ongoing probe and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.Ms. Jean-Pierre said President Biden believed it was “incredibly important” for the Secret Service to get to the bottom of how the drugs ended up in the White House. The Secret Service is responsible for securing the White House and led the investigation.The complex was briefly evacuated as a precaution when the white powder was found. The fire department was called in to test the substance on the spot to determine whether it was hazardous, and the initial test came back negative for a biohazard but positive for cocaine.The bag was sent for a secondary, more sensitive lab analysis. Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center analyzed the item for any biothreats. Tests conducted at the facility came back negative.The cocaine and packaging underwent further forensics testing, including advanced fingerprint and DNA work at the FBI’s crime laboratory, according to the summary. The FBI also did chemical testing.Meanwhile, Secret Service investigators put together a list of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the drugs were found. Anyone who comes through the White House must give identifying information and pass through security before entering.Yet the lab results didn’t turn up latent fingerprints or DNA, so agents can’t compare anything to the possible suspect pool. White House staff are fingerprinted; participants in tour groups are not.Video of the West Executive Street lobby entrance did not identify the person or provide any solid investigative leads, the Secret Service said.The lobby is open to staff-led tours of the West Wing, which are scheduled for non-working hours on the weekends and evenings. Those tours are invitation-only and led by White House staff for friends, family, and other guests. Most staffers who work in the complex can request an evening or weekend tour slot, but there is often a long waitlist. There were tours on the day, a Sunday, the drugs were found, as well as on the two preceding days.The Situation Room, located in the West Wing, where staffers would also drop their phones before entering, has been undergoing construction work and was not in use at the time the baggie was found, the national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, said last week.In the meantime, sources on the Hill told the Sun that the House Oversight Committee, which is led by Congressman James Comer, may soon “look into” the truncated Secret Service probe.Mr. Cotton, for one, was less ambiguous: “If the president were really serious about it, he could demand everybody that goes through those doors, submit to a drug test,” he said on Sunday. “You can use hair testing samples and identify anyone who’s used cocaine in the last few months,” adding, “This just seems like another Biden cover-up.”As the investigation was wrapping up last week, Speaker McCarthy cited it as another example of the double standard when it comes to the Biden family’s kid-glove treatment by law enforcement. “There is no equal justice,” Mr. McCarthy said Thursday. “Anything revolving around ‘Biden, Inc.’ gets treated different than any other American, and that’s got to stop.” The speaker has made similar remarks about Hunter Biden’s plea agreement, which he and other leading GOP lawmakers have called a “sweetheart deal.” Mr. Biden has agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax evasion and enter a judicial diversion program over firearms offenses — for lying about his drug use to buy a gun — and will likely avoid prison time if a judge approves the plea deal during a July 24 hearing. Congressional investigations are now aggressively probing whistleblower allegations that Biden political appointees in the Department of Justice blocked the United States attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, from expanding the Hunter Biden probe beyond the narrow tax and firearms offenses to address accusations of influence peddling, bribery, and unlawfully acting as a foreign agent. Attorney General Garland has strongly denied interference, as has Mr. Weiss in a carefully worded statement. Mr. Garland is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in late September.

Republicans Ask Why ‘Known Cocaine Addict’ Hunter Biden Wasn’t Questioned in White House Investigation, Denounce Probe’s Swift Closure

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