The Secret Service said on Monday that they got rid of the cocaine found at the White House last year after some disagreement about what to do with it. The Secret Service spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said they followed their rules for handling evidence and properly disposed of it.
Guglielmi called allegations from three sources reported by RealClearPolitics “false.” Those sources claimed that President Biden’s former Secret Service Director, Kimberly Cheatle, wanted to get rid of the cocaine but faced resistance from others within the agency.
The drug was found in a locker for cellphones and personal items downstairs in the West Wing, close to the Situation Room. People started wondering if someone in the Biden family might be involved, but the White House said these guesses were “irresponsible.”
President Biden’s grown children, Hunter and Ashley, have both used cocaine before. Some people joked that Biden used it to stay energetic and focused during his speeches.
Cheatle was allegedly “pissed off” when her request to get rid of the cocaine was turned down by her team, who said they had to keep the evidence for seven years. According to the report, Cheatle’s team chose not to do more searches for DNA or talk to anyone who worked at the White House.
Two sources said that Cheatle, or someone working with her, asked Matt White, who runs the forensics division, to throw away the evidence because the administration wanted the case closed.
According to reports, “no fingerprints or DNA” were found on the baggie. However, three people connected to the Secret Service said they found some DNA on the half-used cocaine bag, which had a partial match in a national database.
The Secret Service ended its investigation only 11 days later without talking to any possible suspects, which suggested that they weren’t really interested in finding out what happened.
It’s not clear when the Secret Service got rid of the small bag of cocaine or if they did anything to follow up on the DNA match.
Cheatle wanted the case closed quickly because she was worried about the media attention. This concern was partly because Hunter Biden stayed at the White House before the drug was discovered. Cheatle got her job after First Lady Jill Biden and her aide, Anthony Bernal, pushed for her appointment.
White’s boss, Glenn Dennis, who leads the Secret Service forensics division, talked with Richard Macauley, the acting chief of the Uniformed Division. He pointed out the rules, saying that even if they don’t do anything with the DNA match, they still have to keep the evidence for up to seven years. They decided not to destroy the cocaine.
Guglielmi didn’t answer directly about the claim that there was a partial DNA match or that Macauley might have been retaliated against after refusing to destroy the evidence. He would not be the first, or the last, to face consequences in the coverup.
When a uniformed officer first discovered the drugs and told Cheatle that he wanted to follow the rules for handling crime scenes, he was taken off the case. The leaders then pushed the forensics team to stop looking for DNA matches and tried to avoid questioning people who had access to the area where the drugs were found.
One source said that Congress should make White testify under oath to confirm the DNA match.
In 2021, the Biden White House adopted a strict policy with staff members who said they had used marijuana. They fired at least five of them because they were worried about security. Staff members who abused illegal drugs or had problems with things like gambling and overspending were also denied security clearances and lost their jobs.
Could the baggie have been left by a White House staffer fearing for his job if it were discovered? Was it part of a secret Hunter Biden stash, perhaps one of many in the White House? The truth is now in a dumpster, where it can stay hidden from Americans forever. It’s just another Biden mystery that may never be solved.
