By Editor, July 9th, 2023.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has again refused to clarify whether the cocaine found in the White House last Sunday belonged to a Biden family member. She said the question was “incredibly irresponsible.”
During a regular briefing, a reporter from The Post directly asked Jean-Pierre if the cocaine belonged to the Biden family, prompting a stern response from the press secretary.
“Can you say once and for all whether or the not the cocaine belonged to the Biden family?” The Post inquired.
Jean-Pierre did not answer with a yes or no, but reiterated that the Biden family was not at the White House during the time of the discovery.
“You know, there has been some irresponsible reporting about the family,” the press secretary stated.
“And I have been very clear, I was clear two days ago when talking about this over and over again as I was being asked the question, as you know, and media outlets reported this, the Biden family was not here,” she added.
While Jean-Pierre asserted that the Biden family was not at the White House during the incident, reports indicate that they left for Camp David approximately 48 hours before the drugs were found.
However, no direct evidence has linked the drugs to any member of the Biden family or White House staff.
The White House has yet to categorically deny any connection between the cocaine and the president’s family or staff.
Instead, reporters have been referred to the Secret Service for further information. Despite the lack of a clear denial of family involvement, Jean-Pierre asserted that the question had been extensively addressed over the past few days.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan suggested that workers involved in construction at the White House may have been responsible for the presence of the cocaine.
He also emphasized the rigorous drug testing policies in place at the White House, promising appropriate consequences if any involvement from within the White House is discovered.
Initial reports indicated that the cocaine was found in the White House library, but it was later clarified that the reference was related to a field test conducted by responding firefighters. The substance did not match any hazardous materials in their library of substances.
As the White House continues to avoid directly addressing the cocaine discovery, questions remain about its origin and the potential involvement of any visitors or staff members.
The powder was discovered by Secret Service agents in on Sunday prompting a brief evacuation of the complex. It was originally stated that it was in a publicly accessible area of the West Wing, but later reports said that it was in a secure area near the “situation room”.
To enter the White House all persons must pass through several security checkpoints. The only people who are exempt are family members and secret service members.
Cocaine can be detected in a variety of ways, but one common method is to use specially trained sniffer dogs that will indicate if someone passing through smells of cocaine.
The discovery of the white cocaine powder has raised several concerns, for example could a visitor get into the White House with a powder containing spores of anthrax, a potentially fatal disease, or if the cocaine did not belong to the Biden family or secret service members, then is there an official close to the President who has a cocaine addiction so severe that they smuggle the drug into their workplace?
Source: Hindustan Times. National Institute of Justice.
