In July, the Secret Service found a bag of cocaine in a White House lobby. By the end of the month, the agency had closed the investigation.
Now, for the first time, photos of the bag have emerged after being shared with The Daily Mail.
The Mail obtained the photos through a Freedom of Information Act request. They also obtained documents reportedly confirming FBI Director Paul Abbate’s involvement in the investigation.
According to the records obtained by the Mail, the investigators compiled a list of 500 suspects. However, they remained unable to identify the culprit given the security camera’s angle. Plus, it remains unclear whether the investigators interviewed anyone.
The records specify ” a small ziploc bag approximately less than 1′ by 1′” and a “bag of white powdery substance was found near where pass holders put their phones when going into the [redacted].”
Plus, the records appear to give real-time updates. “‘There is no reported media coverage of this incident at the time,” an early document reportedly says.
The Secret Service agent on guard “was confident it was drug related,” according to the outlet’s review of the documents.
Take a look —
We can exclusively reveal at Daily Mail the first images of the White House cubby where cocaine was found in July in a West Wing processing room.
The case remains unsolved after the US Secret Service closed it after just two weeks due to 'lack of evidence.' pic.twitter.com/jPwaFHrSyx
— Katelyn Caralle (@Katelyn_Caralle) November 13, 2023
The cocaine was found on July 2, and it was likely left by one of the outside visitors, who tend to use those lockers.
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 Situation Room, located in the West Wing, where staffers would also drop their phones before entering, has been undergoing construction work and was not in use at the time the baggie was found, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in July.
First Child Hunter Biden has written about his struggles with cocaine abuse, but at the time, he was visiting Camp David to celebrate the Fourth of July.
The Secret Service closed the investigation after failing to find fingerprints or DNA. “Ownership or persons responsible for the initial placement of the item within the West Wing of the White House Complex on July 2, 2023, could not be determined utilizing DNA or latent print retrieval methods,” the agency said in a statement on July 13.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.