White House Invokes Hatch Act To Avoid Discussing Discovery of Cocaine in the West Wing, Declines To Say Whether Biden Family Will Be Tested

The White House is declining to comment on the ongoing investigation into how cocaine made its way into the West Wing. Invoking the Hatch Act, a law that requires government employees to avoid discussing political campaigns in their official capacities, White House officials have repeatedly referred the matter to the Secret Service’s press office. The White House deputy press secretary, Andrew Bates, told reporters Thursday that he had to “be careful” about discussing the cocaine investigation because he is a federal employee. This came after President Trump accused President Biden himself, as well as his son Hunter, of using the illicit substance. Mr. Bates claimed that discussing the former president, who is currently running to reclaim his former job, would not be permitted under the Hatch Act. This comes as the Secret Service is continuing its investigation of how the small amount of cocaine turned up in a plastic bag in a “highly trafficked” area of the West Wing. The White House has referred all questions about the cocaine to the Secret Service press officers after saying that the Biden family, including the first son, was out of town when the drugs were discovered. The White House has refused to comment on whether Biden family members who live in or frequent the White House will be fingerprinted or drug tested as part of the cocaine probe. The younger Mr. Biden, a recovering cocaine addict, has been a frequent presence at the White House in recent weeks, attending a state dinner, traveling to and from Camp David with his father, and appearing on the White House’s Truman balcony with his father on the night of July 4.On Wednesday, Mr. Trump took to his personal social media platform, Truth Social, to accuse the two Bidens of using drugs. “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,” the former president wrote. He went further, accusing Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Mr. Trump, of looking “like a crackhead.”Mr. Bates, after avoiding the specific allegations that the two Bidens were using drugs, accused Mr. Trump of trying to distract from the policy issues that will be at the center of the coming presidential election. “What I will say is that I have noticed there does seem to be some increasing frustration coming from that corner in general,” Mr. Bates told reporters. “And I think it is probably rooted in the contrast between their substantive policy records.”The Hatch Act, also known as An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, was adopted in 1939 after it was disclosed that federal employees had improperly used their offices to aid Democrats in critical swing states during the 1938 midterm elections. On Thursday, NBC News reported that the drug had been found on the lower level of the West Wing near the executive entrance, where the vice president, Cabinet members, and high-level staff park their cars and enter the building. Sources told NBC News’s Kelly O’Donnell and Megan Lebowitz that the area is “heavily trafficked” and that Secret Service agents are unlikely to discover the identity of the culprit due to the sheer volume of persons who pass through that corridor on a daily basis. The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, has also avoided questions about the presence of drugs on campus, referring all queries to the Secret Service. Since the discovery of the cocaine was first reported, Republicans have raised concerns about the national security implications of such a significant White House breach. On Wednesday, Senator Cotton sent a series of questions to the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, in order to gain more information about her department’s security protocols and how it plans to prevent such breaches in the future. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Congressman James Comer, also raised alarms about the presence of drugs at the White House. During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, he said he and his colleagues hope to speak with Secret Service leadership about this incident. “We have concerns about national security risks,” Mr. Comer said. “Obviously, there are a lot of explanations that could be made for what happened there. But you know, at the end of the day, with all the money and all the security that we have around the White House, something like this should never happen.” Many Republicans have pointed to the younger Mr. Biden as a prime suspect in this case, given the fact he is a recovering cocaine addict and he frequents the White House to visit family.

White House Invokes Hatch Act To Avoid Discussing Discovery of Cocaine in the West Wing, Declines To Say Whether Biden Family Will Be Tested

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