Secret Service Comments on Cocaine Found INSIDE White House

WLTR reported Sunday on a hazmat incident at the White House.

According to reports, the Secret Service cordoned off a significant area around the White House and requested a full hazmat response to the scene.

After discovering an “unknown item,” the Secret Service evacuated the White House grounds.

“U.S. Secret Service Uniform Division Officers located an unknown item on the White House complex,” a Secret Service spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

“As a precaution, the White House grounds were evacuated, and the DC Fire Departments Hazmat team responded,” the spokesperson added.

DC Fire Hazmat officials tested the substance, and it reportedly came back positive for Cocaine Hydrochloride.

JUST IN: Hazmat Crew Reportedly Discovers Cocaine Hydrochloride Near White House

“US Secret Service have just shut down access to the Ellipse, Lafayette Park, 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue due to an unknown security incident,” said freelance DC journalist Andrew Leyden.

Vehicles have gone down West Executive pic.twitter.com/ZvFTERp5NK

— Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) July 3, 2023

“DC Fire Hazmat reports they have found a substance that tests positive for Cocaine Hydrochloride near the White House, which is a local anesthetic,” he added.

DC Fire Hazmat reports they have found a substance that tests positive for Cocaine Hydrochloride near the White House, which is a local anesthetic. Audio from @OpenMHz https://t.co/poI9vabqM7

— Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) July 3, 2023

Listen to the audio here:

BREAKING: Cocaine Hydrochloride spotted near West Executive Wing pic.twitter.com/cJLr2rnEDU

— The Triune Times (@TriuneTimes) July 3, 2023

Andrew Leyden provided more coverage on the scene in this video:

The Secret Service confirmed to The Washington Post that the suspicious substance prompting an evacuation and hazmat response "indicated positive for cocaine."

From The Washington Post:

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a suspicious substance that prompted a brief evacuation when it was found Sunday evening inside the White House, according to law enforcement authorities.

In a preliminary test, the substance, a white powder, indicated positive for cocaine, according to an official familiar with the investigation and the recording of a dispatch from a D.C. fire crew that responded to the incident.

ADVERTISEMENT

A spokesman for the Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, said the substance is undergoing further testing to determine what it is, and authorities are looking into how it got into the White House. He said the D.C. fire department determined the substance did not present a threat.

The discovery prompted an elevated security alert and a brief evacuation of the executive mansion, Guglielmi said. He said President Biden was not in the White House at the time. Guglielmi said there is “an investigation into the cause and manner” of how the substance entered the White House.

The New York Post reports the substance was located in the residence’s library.

BREAKING - CONFIRMED: A substance found in the @WhiteHouse library has tested positive for cocaine. Your reaction

The "unknown item" prompted a brief evacuation of the White House Sunday night and attracted a Hazmat team from Washington, DC, Fire and EMS to the executive… pic.twitter.com/mrR9DPFWTU

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) July 4, 2023

From the New York Post:

The white powdery substance was found in the residence’s library, according to the dispatch call.

The Secret Service told The Post the agency “does not comment on an active investigation” and declined to comment further.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Washington Post that more tests will be conducted to confirm that the substance is in fact cocaine. President Biden was at Camp David at the time of the incident.

ADVERTISEMENT

Authorities are now trying to determine how the substance got into the White House after a Secret Service agent found the powder during a routine sweep of the premises.