Top Republicans Launch Investigation Into White House Cocaine

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, wrote a letter to the United States Secret Service Director, Kimberly Cheatle, demanding more information about the failures of the White House security which led to cocaine being brought on the premises.

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Comer (R-Ky.) told Cheatle, who is leading the investigation into the substance, that the presence of the illegal drugs on the premises of the White House was “unacceptable and a shameful moment in the White House’s history.”

“This alarming development requires the Committee to assess White House security practices and determine whose failures led to an evacuation of the building and finding of the illegal substance,” Comer wrote.

In his letter on Friday, Comer said that a staff-level briefing will be held on July 14th as the House Oversight Committee, which has jurisdiction over Secret Service operations, seeks more details about the cocaine that was found in a highly trafficked part of the West Wing of Sunday.  

Details regarding the illegal substance and where it was found have changed multiple times throughout the week. Initially, it was reported that the cocaine was found in the library, then it was reported that the actual location was in the West Wing lobby.

However, NBC News reported on Thursday that the cocaine was found in a cubby near the White House’s West Executive entrance, which is located on the floor below the lobby.

The West Executive Entrance is on the West Executive Drive, the driveway located between the West Wing and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building where Vice President Kamala Harris’ motorcade parks, along with White House senior staffers.

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre hinted that a person attending a tour of the White House may have left the substance in the heavily trafficked area of the West Wing.

“This is a heavily, heavily trafficked – heavily traveled to be more accurate – area of the campus of the White House. And it is where visitors to the West Wing come,” she said. “I just don’t have anything else – I’m not going to speculate on who it was.”

White House officials faced backlash and criticism when they expressed their doubts about finding the culprit due to the area being so heavily trafficked throughout the day.