When asked about the cocaine found at the White House, President Joe Biden smiled and seemed not to hear the question as the administration tried to remove the first family and staff from the disturbing find by implying it was a guest.
Biden was in the Oval Office on Wednesday with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and he watched as reporters attempted and failed to get him to comment on the drug issue.
A public member placed the narcotic material in a “heavily-traveled area” of the West Wing, which houses the Oval Office and a section for employees, as intimated by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in her daily briefing.
When pressed further, she vowed that the Secret Service would identify and apprehend whoever dumped the drugs when Biden and his son Hunter were vacationing at Camp David, and she refused to engage in any ‘hypotheticals’ concerning the investigation.
On Sunday, a tiny, zipped bag containing cocaine was discovered in a West Wing foyer locker where visitors keep their phones and other equipment.
A White House employee must accompany guests touring the West Wing, and under the Biden administration, all new workers are subject to drug testing.
Jean-Pierre said the President had been briefed on the situation, but the President ignored shouted inquiries from reporters and laughed as if it was an amusing spectacle. Even if it wasn’t his crack-addicted son who left the bag of coke, it still happened, and it is not a “laughable situation.”
The Secret Service checks visitor and security camera data as part of their inquiry.
The West Wing serves as the hub of daily White House operations. The lobby serves as a check-in point for visitors taking tours of the West Wing and those with appointments with the president or other senior White House employees.
Once the drug was found, the White House compound was evacuated briefly on Sunday. As a family, Biden and his weren’t staying in the White House.
After spending the holiday weekend at Camp David with their son Hunter and many of their grandkids, the Bidens returned to Washington, DC, on Tuesday for a Fourth of July celebration on the South Lawn.
The dispute cast a pall over the holiday as to how and by whom the drug entered the White House.
