In the latest development on the probe launched into the discovery of cocaine at the White House, officials have found out that the stash of the drug was discovered near the place where “visitors taking tours of the West Wing are instructed to leave their cellphones,” as per The Washington Post reports.
The Secret Service is probing how the drug ended up in the White House after the tests indicated that the substance found on the ground floor of the White House on Sunday was cocaine.
The staffers in the White House are authorized to give tours of the West Wing, which usually occur during the night or at the weekends.
The guests are required to go through a security check before entering the White House complex and are then asked to leave their phones in small boxes just before entering the West Wing. According to The Washington Post reports, the officials said that the substance was found near the boxes.
During the tours, the guests are shown the ground floor and the first floor of the West Wing. Guests on these tours can peek inside the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room and the Roosevelt Room.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, had previously said that the DC fire department determined that the substance, which was found in a “work area of the West Wing,” did not present a threat, as per The Washington Post reports.
“An investigation into the cause and manner of how the substance entered the White House is ongoing,” The Washington Post quoted Guglielmi as saying.
An official familiar with the investigation has revealed that the quantity of the substance was small.
While concerning, this is apparently not the first instance of illegal drugs having made their way into the White House.
As per The Guardian, previous revelations include rapper Snoop Dogg’s claim of smoking weed in a bathroom in 2013, musician Willie Nelson confessing to smoking a joint on the White House roof during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, British actor Erkan Mustafa admitting to using marijuana and cocaine during a visit to the White House amid Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drugs campaign, and Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick’s unsuccessful attempt to spike President Richard Nixon’s tea with LSD in 1970, remarking that she believed “Tricky Dick needs a little acid.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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