The Secret Service has denied a report that former Director Kimberly Cheatle and other agency leaders wanted to destroy cocaine found in the White House.
“This is false. The US Secret Service takes its investigative and protective responsibilities very seriously,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “There are retention policies for criminal investigations and the Secret Service adhered to those requirements during this case.”
A story in RealClearPolitics cited three anonymous sources within the Secret Service who claimed that Cheatle, who recently resigned in the fallout from the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, reassigned an officer who wanted to follow a specific crime scene investigative protocol after the discovery. Guglielmi’s statement did not address that aspect of the report.
Aside from the novelty of illicit drugs being found inside the executive mansion, troubled first son Hunter Biden was staying in the White House in the days before the cocaine was discovered on July 2 and then publicly reported on July 4, sparking questions about the source of the drugs.
The initial discovery triggered a brief evacuation of the White House grounds as the substance was tested to rule out the possibility it was anthrax or another deadly powder. Because the evacuation included members of the press, it became impossible to keep the discovery hidden from the public.
Cheatle was close to the Biden family, having served on Joe Biden’s protective detail during his time as vice president. She reportedly was named Secret Service director in part because of her close relationship with first lady Jill Biden.
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The exact location of where the drugs were discovered was not known for several days after July 4. Initial reports held that it was found in a reference library, later that it was discovered in a work area, and then finally that it was in an area used by White House staff and tourists to store their phones.
RealClearPolitics also reported that DNA testing on the bag returned a “partial hit,” meaning it may have matched a “blood relative of a finite pool of people.” However, additional searches for DNA matches were not conducted, according to the outlet.
