Colin Jost hosts White House Correspondents Dinner

Table Of Content

• Ariana Madix accuses Raquel Leviss of trying to ‘punish’ her with revenge porn lawsuit
• Official Statement on the Investigation of a Substance Found in the White House
• No fingerprints, DNA sample or leads from cocaine found at the White House, the Secret Service says
• Steve Doocy Tells His Fox & Friends Colleagues the Economy Is Strong Under Biden: ‘A Lot of the Numbers Are Good’
• Secret Service closes investigation into cocaine found at White House with no suspect identified
• Office of Communication and Media Relations

"I love Washington. Last time I was here I left my cocaine at the White House. Luckily President Biden was able to make good use of it at his State of the Union," Jost added. The Washington Post reported that the area was near boxes where White House staff instruct visitors to leave their phones before entering the West Wing. Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney and acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration under then-President Barack Obama, said law enforcement agencies need to consider their resources when making decisions about who and what to investigate. The number of people who use the area could make it difficult to determine who was responsible for the substance, NBC said.

Ariana Madix accuses Raquel Leviss of trying to ‘punish’ her with revenge porn lawsuit

An initial test of the substance conducted by the District of Columbia Fire Department soon after it was found indicated it was cocaine, and the additional test took place Tuesday night. The cocaine was found in an entrance area between the foyer and a lower-level lobby, the sources said. The entrance is near where some vehicles, like the vice president’s limo or SUV, park.

Official Statement on the Investigation of a Substance Found in the White House

"Luckily, the president was able to put it to good use for his State of the Union. I am kidding, of course. The president doesn’t call it cocaine. He calls it high-speed rail." A source familiar with the investigation said that the Secret Service will lead a full review, which will include consulting cameras and entrance logs to determine who had access to the space where the small plastic bag was found Sunday night. "On Sunday evening, the White House complex went into a precautionary closure as officers from the Secret Service Uniformed Division investigated an unknown item found inside a work area," Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said. "The DC Fire Department was called to evaluate and quickly determined the item to be non-hazardous. The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending." After 11 days, the Secret Service wrapped up its investigation without naming a suspect and claimed that surveillance footage did not reveal the identity of the culprit.

No fingerprints, DNA sample or leads from cocaine found at the White House, the Secret Service says

The Secret Service said in a statement the White House was closed as a precaution as emergency crews investigated, and that the District of Columbia fire department was called in to evaluate and determine that the substance was not hazardous. Officers found the cocaine during a routine patrol, a Secret Service official said. The sources maintain that the area is highly trafficked, in keeping with Jean-Pierre's characterization Wednesday. The area is transited by VIPs, visitors, tourists, staff members, military officials and facilities operations employees. In updating where the cocaine was found, officials said that area was also heavily trafficked.

Secret Service ends White House cocaine investigation with no suspects - POLITICO

Secret Service ends White House cocaine investigation with no suspects.

Posted: Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Steve Doocy Tells His Fox & Friends Colleagues the Economy Is Strong Under Biden: ‘A Lot of the Numbers Are Good’

When the unknown powdered substance was discovered, sections of the White House were evacuated as the Washington Fire Department was called to the scene and performed a field test that identified the substance as cocaine. The sample was sent to the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center at Fort Detrick, Maryland, the Secret Service statement said. That testing confirmed it was cocaine and determined it was not a biological threat like anthrax or ricin.

Secret Service closes investigation into cocaine found at White House with no suspect identified

At this point, one leading theory is that the bag was brought in by an individual on a White House tour of the West Wing, according to senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter. Washington — Subsequent testing confirmed that a powdery substance discovered by the Secret Service at the White House on Sunday was cocaine, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, as questions linger about how the drug got into the building. “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. Still, its discovery set off rounds of questions for the White House, including about its security protocols and who had access to the area where the substance was found. White House press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre said the space is "heavily traveled" by staff and visitors, including those taking tours.

While awaiting the FBl's results, the Secret Service investigation into how this item entered the White House continued. The investigation included a methodical review of security systems and protocols. This review included a backwards examination that spanned several days prior to the discovery of the substance and developed an index of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the substance was found. The focal point of these actions developed a pool of known persons for comparison of forensic evidence gleaned from the FBI’s analysis of the substance's packaging. According to the AP, the president and his family — including Hunter Biden — left for Camp David, a presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont, Maryland, on June 30, 2023. In reality, the cocaine was discovered in a common area of the West Wing, according to several reputable publications, including AP and CBS News.

Secret Service ends investigation into cocaine found at White House - NBC News

Secret Service ends investigation into cocaine found at White House.

Posted: Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

That prompted Chris Jackson, a Tennessee election commissioner and longtime Democratic operative, to say on Twitter he hoped Biden “sues the hell out of everyone suggesting this”. “We have a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride,” a radio dispatch from the White House said. "The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending," the Secret Service said. Officers found the cocaine during "routine patrols," a Secret Service official said.

Secret Service Investigating Who Brought Cocaine Into the White House

Secret Service Uniformed Division found an unknown substance inside a vestibule leading to the lobby area of the West Executive Avenue entrance to the White House. He went on, "The last time I was in D.C. I left my cocaine at the White House," referring to a scandal in which a bag of coke was found at the White House last July. "Luckily, the President was able to put it to good use for his State of the Union. I am kidding, of course. The president doesn’t call it cocaine. He calls it high-speed rail." Jost brought up the sore subject of President Biden's age, a major stumbling block in polling as the 2024 presidential election nears. He joked that Biden, 81, remembered the American Revolution and that school newspapers did not exist when he was in high school. President Joe Biden was not at the White House at the time the substance was discovered; he left for Camp David on Friday, returning to Washington on Tuesday morning.

The Secret Service is leading a full review of how the substance got into the West Wing, law enforcement officials said, including examining cameras and entrance logs to determine who had access to the space. Officials caution this will be a challenging investigation, and while there are some cameras in the West Wing, it's unclear if anyone was captured on those cameras with the bag of cocaine. White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed to reporters on July 5, 2023, that there had been tours during the weekend the cocaine was discovered at the White House, including tours held on the same day. "Where this was discovered is a heavily traveled area where many White House -- West Wing, I should be even more specific, West Wing visitors come through this particular area," Jean-Pierre said. After that news broke, social media posts about the discovery rapidly spread, with various degrees of legitimacy. We found posts on Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and Facebook making various claims about where the illicit substance was found and to whom it allegedly belonged.

President Biden and his family were away at Camp David when a uniformed Secret Service agent found the substance during a patrol of the West Wing around 6 p.m. On Sunday, the person said, prompting a brief shutdown of some of the White House campus as response workers assessed whether the substance was hazardous. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter Wednesday asking Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for more information about the investigation. Following the discovery, safety closures were implemented around the White House.

According to Reuters, the West Wing includes the Oval Office, cabinet room and work space for presidential staff. In a statement describing the events surrounding the cocaine's discovery, which began July 2, the Secret Service said as part of its review, it compiled a list of "several hundred" people who may have accessed the area where the substance was discovered. But no fingerprints could be found on the cocaine's packaging and there was "insufficient DNA" for "investigative comparisons," the Secret Service said. Washington — The U.S. Secret Service has closed its investigation into the bag of cocaine that was discovered at the White House earlier this month, but was unable to identify a suspect "due to a lack of physical evidence," the agency said Thursday. A formal laboratory test of a white powder found in a “highly trafficked” area of the White House has been confirmed as cocaine, NBC News reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed official with knowledge of the investigation. The Secret Service is looking to find out who brought a baggie of cocaine that was discovered on Sunday evening into a guest lobby of the West Wing of the White House, an agency spokesman said on Wednesday.

The Secret Service described the location of the substance as "inside a vestibule leading to the lobby area of the West Executive Avenue entrance to the White House." "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. The lobby is open to staff-led tours of the West Wing, which are scheduled for nonworking hours on the weekends and evenings. Those tours are invitation-only and led by White House staff for friends, family and other guests. Most staffers who work in the complex can request an evening or weekend tour slot, but there is often a long wait list. There were tours on the day, a Sunday, the drugs were found, as well as on the two preceding days.

The substance — which tested positive for cocaine on a preliminary field test, according to a source familiar with the investigation — led to a brief evacuation inside the White House on Sunday night. The Secret Service led the investigation into how the cocaine ended up at the White House and said as part of its review, it would look over surveillance footage and entrance logs to determine who had access to the area where it was found. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, told reporters that officials explained during the briefing that the White House was "fully cooperative" with the Secret Service's probe, and said he is satisfied the agency conducted a "thorough investigation." Secret Service spokesman Anthony Gugliemi said the agency determined that interviewing all 500 people could be a strain on resources, might infringe upon civil liberties and would likely be fruitless without corresponding physical evidence tying any person to the drugs. CBS News, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the cocaine was found in a facility used by White House staff and guests to store phones. A baggie that was confirmed to contain cocaine was found in the guest lobby of the West Wing on Sunday evening, an agency spokesman said.

They returned to the White House on Tuesday for an event with the National Education Association and Fourth of July festivities. "When it comes to visitors to the West Wing, they come for many reasons, obviously we do have West Wing tours that occur here on campus," she said, adding tours took place Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said that the substance had been found in a “work area of the West Wing” and that another dispatch that said the substance had been found in a White House library was incorrect. “The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending,” the Secret Service said. Biden and his family left for Camp David on Friday and returned to the White House on Tuesday. "They are currently investigating what happened over the weekend. So I would have to refer you to the Secret Service, the Secret Service, on all of this."