(Washington) The discovery of cocaine in the White House did not jeopardize national security, the White House said on Friday, stressing that the crisis room, the famous “situation room”, was empty at the time when the powder was found.
The substance was discovered on Sunday in the West Wing of the White House in an area frequented by outside visitors, triggering a political controversy that the executive has been trying to calm for several days.
While the drugs were indeed found near the executive’s crisis room, with extremely restricted and monitored access, this room has not been used “for months because of ongoing construction work”, said said Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the White House.
“So the only people coming and going in this crisis room during this period were workers,” he added.
The incident greatly embarrasses the Biden administration, which has sought to distance itself from the scandals that marked its predecessor’s tenure.
Mr. Sullivan notably reaffirmed that White House staff were subject to a rigorous drug testing policy.
After the cocaine discovery broke, several figures on the right pointed the finger at the president’s son, Hunter Biden, because of his addiction-strewn past.
Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre recalled once again on Friday that “the Biden family was not there” at the time of the events, calling a journalist’s question about it “incredibly irresponsible”.
The Secret Service – responsible for the security of high-ranking US state officials – confirmed on Wednesday that the powder was cocaine, the substance having initially been considered potentially dangerous.
Its discovery had thus caused a brief evacuation of the White House, the suspicious powders regularly received by mail in the American official buildings being treated as potential chemical or bacteriological attacks.