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Cocaine in the White House! Whodunnit? Hell, we don’t know. Who do you think we are – the Secret Service or something?

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On July 2, officers from the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division found a strange substance in a hallway leading to the lobby area of the West Executive Avenue entrance to the White House. They found it in a container where people temporarily store their electronic and personal devices before entering the West Wing. They figured someone set it down while making a phone call and forgot to take it with them.

After finding the substance, they closed off the area around the White House to make sure it wasn’t a dangerous chemical or material that could hurt anyone there. They tested the substance and found out that it wasn’t hazardous.

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The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department tested the substance and found that it contained cocaine. They took the substance and packaging as evidence and sent it to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, where they tested it for any biothreats. They found nothing dangerous and confirmed that the substance was not biological.

The packaging was checked for fingerprints and DNA by the FBI, primarily because the FBI are experts in fingerprint/DNA analysis but also so there could be someone else to blame if the investigation went south (it did). While the Federal Bureau of Investigation was doing the tests, the Secret Service continued their investigation to find out how the item got into the White House. They checked security systems and protocols. They looked back several days before they found the substance to find out who might have been in the area. They found a few hundred people who might have been there.

On July 12, the Secret Service got the results from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The results did not find any fingerprints and there was not enough DNA to compare to the people that entered the White House around the time the cocaine was found. Oh, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the substance was cocaine just in case anyone was still wondering.

There was no video of the area where they found the substance. It is, after all, only the White House, and the area the substance was found in was only used to deposit electronic devices such as cellphones, secret microphones, and other devices that look electronic. The investigation could not find any clues or evidence to determine who left the cocaine there. They can’t find a person of interest from the hundreds of people who were there. Today, the Secret Service’s investigation has been officially closed.

In an official news release announcing the closure of the case, the Secret Service reminded Americans:

“The U.S. Secret Service takes its mission to protect U.S. leaders, facilities, and events seriously and we are constantly adapting to meet the needs of the current and future security environment.”

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