Home Oversight chief seeks data from Secret Service about cocaine present in White Home

Washington — The Republican-led Home Oversight and Accountability Committee will assess the safety practices on the White Home and is searching for data from the pinnacle of the U.S. Secret Service after a small bag of cocaine was found close to a foyer within the West Wing over the weekend.

Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the Oversight panel, is sending a letter to U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Friday to request extra details about the incident and a staff-level briefing on the matter by July 14.

“The presence of unlawful medication within the White Home is unacceptable and a shameful second within the White Home’s historical past,” Comer wrote to Cheatle.

The Oversight chairman mentioned that the “alarming” incident requires the committee to look at the safety practices on the White Home and “decide whose failures led to an evacuation of the constructing and discovering of the unlawful substance.”

The cocaine was discovered on Sunday, and its discovery prompted a short shutdown of the White Home. President Biden and first girl Dr. Jill Biden weren’t within the constructing when the substance was found, having spent the weekend with their household at Camp David.

An preliminary check of the substance performed by the District of Columbia Fireplace Division indicated it was cocaine, and subsequent testing confirmed the discovering.

The cocaine was in a small Ziploc bag and located in a cubby utilized by guests to retailer cellphones and different private gadgets in an space close to the West Govt entryway on the bottom flooring of the West Wing. 

White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre informed reporters Wednesday that the world is “closely traveled” by workers and guests, together with these taking excursions. Excursions came about Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Mr. Biden has been briefed on the incident, she mentioned. The Secret Service is main a full evaluate of how the substance acquired into the White Home and can look over surveillance footage and entrance logs to find out who had entry to the area.