White House cocaine investigation ends with no leads, Secret Service says

Agents found the white powder in a heavily trafficked area during a routine sweep on July 2

The White House in Washington. Reuters

No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the bag of cocaine found in a lobby at the White House last week, despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, according to a summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by the Associated Press.

Surveillance footage of the area also did not identify a suspect and there are no leads on who brought the drugs into the building.

US Secret Service agents found the white powder during a routine White House sweep on July 2 in a heavily trafficked West Wing lobby where staff go in and out and tour groups gather to drop their mobile phones and other belongings.

“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.

The presence of cocaine at the White House prompted a flurry of criticism and questions from Republicans, who requested a briefing on Thursday on the investigation.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe 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.

Mr Biden was not there at the time of the discovery. He was at Camp David with members of his family for the holiday weekend.

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.