Over the weekend at the White House, a routine security sweep by the Secret Service found an undisclosed amount of cocaine in the famous building. Where the drug was found depends on what news story you read, since the location has been described as the White House library, or a “work area” in the West Wing, or in a cubby hole where visitors leave behind belongings before taking a tour.
Among those locations, the cubby hole appeared to be the agreed-up location by mid-week only for MSNBC, of all news sources, to blow up that theory Thursday. During a report from the White House grounds, the news outlet said the cocaine was found in the West Executive Entrance.
"By my observation, it was found in a much more secure place. A limited-access place," Mitchell said.
So who left it? After an unnamed official told news website Politico the source may never be known, because people walk by the area frequently, a second unnamed official told Reuters the Secret Service is reviewing surveillance footage and looking at visitor logs.
Gary Bauer, a veteran of D.C. politics who leads Campaign for Working Families, says there is a reason the discovery raised eyebrows.
"Of course, we all know from the Hunter laptop that the first family son has wrestled with an addiction to cocaine,” he says. “And certainly that came to mind for many people when this story broke."
It didn’t help Hunter Biden’s case after video footage showed him standing on a White House balcony with family to watch an Independence Day fireworks show. Hunter is seen sweating and acting nervous (pictured at right) then, moments later, he disappears from the cameras behind an unhappy-looking Jill Biden. What appeared to be an innocent two-handed sweep of his hair, skeptics say, was Hunter doing a quick “bump” of cocaine right in front of his family.
The theory the cocaine belonged to Hunter Biden is unlikely, Fox News analyst Kayleigh McEnany told fellow panelists, because he left the White House grounds lasts Friday. It is "inconceivable" it went undiscovered until Sunday, she said.
Meanwhile, not only should the public question the security of the White House if the owner is never found, Bauer says, but he wonders how the media would react if cocaine was found there during the Trump administration.
“The outcries would be overwhelming. The chest thumping, the exploding heads would be everywhere,” he says. “Reporters would be pounding on the table.”
