WASHINGTON– THE Bag of cocaine discovered inside White House complex was found in a room near a West Wing entrance commonly used to give tours and where visitors are welcome to place their phones and other personal belongings, photos obtained by ABC News.
The photos show a small bag of cocaine inside compartment No. 50, the photos show.
A photo of cocaine found inside the White House on the evening of July 2, 2023.
THE The secret services have closed their investigation on July 12 after saying he could not identify any suspects.
Tours are by invitation only and are normally led by a White House staff member. The Secret Service said hundreds of people had access to the area and no security camera footage showed what happened. Congressional Republicans raised questions about that explanation, saying it raised security concerns.
When the cocaine was found on July 2, the White House was briefly shut down. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were outside Washington at the time the cocaine was found.
Internal Secret Service emails also obtained in the FOIA show that the FBI immediately took control at the time of the “white powder” for further testing at the FBI laboratory in Quanitco, Virginia.
“No surveillance video footage was found that would have provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the substance found in this area,” the agency said in a lengthy statement. in July. “Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to identify a person of interest among the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered. At this time, the Secret Service investigation is closed due to lack of physical evidence. proof.”
The Secret Service said the packaging was “subjected to advanced fingerprint and DNA analysis” by the FBI crime lab.
“The investigation included a methodical review of security systems and protocols,” the agency’s statement said. “This review included a retrospective review that spanned several days before the substance was discovered and developed an index of several hundred people who may have accessed the area where the substance was found. Central to these actions has developed a pool of known people for comparison of forensic evidence gleaned from the FBI’s analysis of the substance’s packaging.
“On July 12, the Secret Service received results from the FBI laboratory, which did not reveal latent fingerprints and there was insufficient DNA for investigative comparisons,” the statement said .
