America's Talking - Secret Service Test Confirms Cocaine Found in White House

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

The Committee on Oversight and Accountability plans look into how cocaine ended up in the West Wing of the White House. Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, sent a letter to United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Friday requesting a briefing and information related to the discovery of cocaine in the White House. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/america-in-focus/support Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to America in Focus powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, executive editor of the Center Square Newswire Service. Joining me today is the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief Casey Harper. We are recording this on Friday, July 7th. Bit of an unusual story out of Washington, D.C. this week, specifically from the White House, where a baggie of cocaine was found near the West Wing on Sunday, leading to lots of speculation of whose it was, and how the cocaine got there in the first place. Tell us about this story, Casey. This is a very unusual story that immediately, as you might expect, sparked a flurry of rumors, accusations and speculations. But a few of the facts are that, as you said, this was found on Sunday in a secret service

said it was a routine sweep. They haven't been as specific on exactly where it was found, but it was apparently found in a more public area. Of course, there are tours of the White House that go through. It's worth noting that President Biden had gone out of town on Friday. But, you know, it's probably inevitable that this would happen. But it was especially aggravated when Hunter Biden, the president's son, who has a history of drug abuse, was seen at the White House on the 4th of July. And we know that he's been in and out of the White House seemingly unannounced for different events.

And July 4th was one of them. So, of course, that sparked a whole other flurry of accusations. Right now, the Secret Service hasn't released much details. they don't know on who it was. They don't seem to know much about it at all. Or if they do, they're not releasing it, which, you know, that's raising other criticisms of, hey, the FBI can, you know, selectively track down different people for different things. But when it comes to the White House or some staffer or some influential person,

potentially having illicit drugs, suddenly law enforcement doesn't know anything, which hits more on a common theme we have of selective enforcement, of potentially federal law enforcement. But it's a little early for that. I'd say, you know, Secret Service does need time to investigate this, but they found it. You know, Hunter Biden showed up two days later. It was at a public area. We may never know.

But it's certainly not a good look for the president to have a, to be defending a son with a long history of drug abuse and allegedly illicit illegal activity. And then to have, and I don't remember anything ever like this being made publicly. I don't think you, maybe you do. I don't think so, though, of illegal drugs being found at the White House. My memory is not so great anymore, Casey, but no, I don't recall anything. You know, that's the price you pay when you are our resident cocaine expert for this podcast. So whatever. Former President Donald Trump, who's known to say almost anything and who is the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 primaries to run for president again.

He just came out on his social media site, truth social, and, you know, blatantly accused the Bidens of the cocaine being the Bidens. We have no idea if that's the case. But, of course, that sparked questions of what the White House Communications Office or whatever, who denied it, said the Bidens weren't there. It was just as a timeline. The cocaine was found on Sunday. White House press secretary says President Biden, his wife and their family were not there over the weekend. Hunter Biden shows up on July 4th. On Wednesday, the Secret Service, after testing the white powdery substance that was found, confirmed that it was indeed cocaine. The investigation is ongoing, but just with all the politics involved, it's become a major story in Washington, D.C.

and unless we find the quote unquote culprits, the person who actually brought the cocaine into the White House, there's going to be speculation for forever unless they identify somebody. Right. Don't you think? Yeah, you're right about that. And I mean, I think there's such a breakdown in trust that the American people don't trust, honestly, some federal law enforcement, but especially White House press secretaries and administration officials. So when I think when the American public hears, oh, trust us, I think they're just gut level reaction is to not believe that

or to not trust it at least. And so, you know, we could sit here and say, well, Hunter Biden didn't show up till, you know, July 4th. And that could be true. But I don't think the average person just is like, I don't believe you. Maybe he did. You know, of course, what else are you going to say? Like, oh, you know, Hunter had the White House to himself all weekend and his parents were out of town. And I mean, you know, what's he going to say? So, you know, there may be, we may get more down to the bottom of this because Senator Tom Cotton, the Republican from Arkansas, he did open up an investigation with the Secret Service. He sent a letter to the director Kimberly Cheedel. And he just, he asked for a lot of the processes, what goes into evaluating this.

And they have a few weeks to provide, you know, some details around the investigation of this. And one interesting thing that he's trying to find out based on his letter is do White House family members get special treatment when it comes to screening? And, you know, I mean, you could see how that would make sense. For example, lawmakers don't go through the same kind of screening. I think that staffers do on the Capitol. I think I've seen members of Congress kind of skip the line. And maybe they're not supposed to do that. But I believe I've seen it.

And, you know, I've been to the White House for White House press briefings and you have to go through a metal detector. You have to get the wand over you. And they do look through if you sometimes can look through your bag. So there is a process and staffers have to go through a similar one. So it does raise question of, you know, what are the processes? And, you know, we kind of skimmed over this because now we know it was cocaine. But that could have been anthrax. I mean, it was just a white powder at the time.

And as you said, they called the D.C. Fire Department and it turned out to be cocaine. And so now it's a different story. But the fact that, you know, white powder can get into the White House, regardless of what it is, is a little troubling because you would think the White House would be among the most secure buildings in the United States. Certainly, guests are screen for everything. I don't, you know, it's been a while since I've been to the White House, but I assume they have drug dogs and things like that there. The White House didn't help itself in one exchange with reporters after Trump came. out and made these, you know, unsubstantiated claims that the cocaine was Biden. A White House spokesperson was asked directly about it. His name was Andrew Bates. A reporter asked, let me quote here, the cocaine found in the White House had belonged to either the president or a son. Are you willing to say that that's not the case? Bates responded, quote, I don't have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act. Now, the Hatch Act prevents federal employees when they're working on government time from talking about campaigns. And yeah, Trump is a candidate, but it seems like saying he can't

respond because it would be a violation of the Hatch Act. That just seems like a stretch to me. If he said, I can't comment because of the ongoing investigation, that's one thing. But invoking the hatch act, I don't think they help themselves there. Well, obviously, the story continues to develop, and our listeners can learn more about it. Follow the ongoing updates on the story at the center square.com. But we are out of time. For Casey Harper, I'm Dan McAaleb. Please subscribe. Thank you for listening.