Secret Service investigates how suspected cocaine got into the White House

According to an acquaintance of the incident, a small amount of a white powdery substance was found in the White House on Sunday evening and an initial test by aid workers showed it to be cocaine.

President Biden and his family were away at Camp David when a uniformed Secret Service agent found the substance during a West Wing patrol around 6 p.m. Sunday, the person said, prompting a brief shutdown of part of the campus of the White House as aid workers. assessed whether the substance is hazardous.

Later that evening, a test of the substance by hazmat crew officials yielded a result: “We have a yellow bar that says cocaine hydrochloride,” an official said on a dispatch sent at 8:49 pm. and logged by a website that aggregates the agency’s radio communications.

A person familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation, said the radio message discussing the testing of the substance was posted between the District of Columbia Fire Department’s hazmat team. Columbia and other officers within the department.

Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said the substance was found in a “West Wing work area” and that another report saying the substance was found in a White House library was incorrect.

In a statement, Mr Guglielmi said that “the item has been sent for further evaluation and an investigation is ongoing into its cause and how it entered the White House.”

He did not confirm or dispute the initial finding that the powder was cocaine.

Vito Maggiolo, a spokesman for the District of Columbia Fire Department, declined to confirm the contents of the messages, but said department officials “were requested to assist the Secret Service in conducting an investigation.”

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Biden returned to the White House with several of his relatives.