Donald Trump responded to the news that cocaine was found in the White House by suggesting that it belonged to either Hunter Biden or the president, and accusing special counsel Jack Smith of being a “crackhead.”
It was first reported on Monday that the cocaine was found by a uniformed Secret Service officer during a routine search of the White House on Sunday. At the time, it was not yet known where the cocaine was discovered or how it was packaged.
But on Wednesday, officials reported that the cocaine was found near the West Wing lobby, an area that is included in White House tours.
The White House implied that the cocaine could have been left behind by someone who took a tour of the White House rather than someone who works there.
But on Thursday, the story changed.
NBC News reported that White House officials said the baggie of cocaine was not found in the West Wing lobby, but near the West Executive entrance which is below the West Wing offices on the same level as the Situation Room.
The West Executive entrance is only used by White House staff, including Vice President Kamala Harris and preapproved West Wing visitors, ruling out the possibility that the cocaine was left by a random visitor taking the White House tour.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said that the cocaine was found “very close to the Oval Office” (it wasn’t) and suggested that nobody believes that it belong to “anyone other than Hunter & Joe Biden.”
Trump predicted that the news media would claim that the powder in the baggie wasn’t cocaine but crushed aspirin before the story vanishes.
Then Trump dragged special counsel Jack Smith into his rant, asking if he was in the area where the cocaine was found and saying Smith “looks like a crackhead to me.”
While forensic work continues on the baggie, investigators said they may never be able to determine who left the cocaine.
But in a Twitter thread Thursday evening, Republican Senator Mike Lee said it is unlikely that the Secret Service wouldn’t be able to figure out how the cocaine got there.
Lee said the West Executive entrance is a “heavily secured” and “constantly surveilled” entrance used only by staff and visitors with “preapproved appointments to the West Wing” and everyone entering from this location must go through a multi-layered security screening.
Lee pointed out that the entrance is blanketed by surveillance cameras and every visitor entering must empty their pockets during screening, making it unlikely that the Secret Service would have overlooked a baggie of cocaine.
