A local Washington, D.C., fireman confirmed that an unknown substance found in the White House was cocaine after a preliminary field test conducted on Sunday.
“We have a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride,” the firefighter said in radio communications first reported by the New York Post. “Bag it up and take it out,” the firefighter added after he was dispatched to investigate the matter.
Although the Secret Service did not confirm the substance to be cocaine, the federal agency did acknowledge a search of the White House had been conducted.
“On Sunday evening, the White House complex went into a precautionary closure as officers from the Secret Service Uniformed Division investigated an unknown item found inside a work area. The DC Fire Department was called to evaluate and quickly determined the item to be non-hazardous,” Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi told National Review in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending,” he continued.
The Secret Service first found the powder during one of the Uniformed Division’s routine sweeps of the White House. While some outlets have mistakenly reported that the “unknown item” was found inside the executive mansion, the substance was actually located within a working area of the West Wing. According to one official who spoke on conditions of anonymity with the Washington Post, the amount of cocaine was “small.”
“You have got to be kidding me. Cocaine was found at the WH and authorities aren’t saying exactly where it was found. If it’s the Old Executive Office Building, it’s likely staff. If it’s the mansion, it’s likely Hunter. Reporters do your job,” Ari Fleischer, the press secretary of former president George W. Bush, tweeted following the competing reports.
Joe Biden was at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Md., when the suspicious substance was first reported.