The “unknown item” found in the West Wing that forced a brief evacuation of the White House Sunday night and drew a hazmat team to the executive mansion initially tested positive for cocaine, according to officials and a dispatch call made that evening.
“We have a yellow bar stating cocaine hydrochloride,” a DC firefighter stated in a radio communication at 8:49 p.m. Sunday.
“Bag it up and take it out,” the firefighter told the hazmat team.
The initial dispatch call stated that the white, powdery substance was found in the residence’s library on the ground floor of the building.
However, officials familiar with the incident told The Post the purported cocaine was found in a holding area in the West Wing that is accessible to both White House staff and guests. DC Fire and EMS did not immediately respond to a request to clarify the discrepancy.
President Biden, 80, was at Camp David at the time of the incident, as was his son Hunter, who has admitted to a past crack cocaine addiction. The 53-year-old was part of the family party that returned to Washington from the presidential retreat for July 4 festivities later in the day.
The West Wing is the administrative heart of the presidency and includes the Oval Office, the offices of executive staff, the Cabinet Room, the Roosevelt Room, and the press briefing room.
The Secret Service told The Post that the agency “does not comment on an active investigation,” with spokesman Anthony Guglielmi later saying in a statement that further tests will be conducted to confirm that the substance is indeed cocaine.
Authorities are 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.
Here's everything to know about cocaine being found in the White House
The Secret Service concluded its investigation into cocaine found in the West Wing of the White House after just 11 days without identifying a suspect.
Investigators also told lawmakers they were unable to determine exactly when the cocaine was left in the locker due to the lack of footage.
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The executive mansion was briefly evacuated after the cocaine was found.
An initial test came back positive for the drug, and further testing by the FBI confirmed it was cocaine.
President Biden’s staff is subject to routine drug tests, but White House visitors — including those given West Wing tours by invitation only — are not.
Biden was not at the White House at the time the substance was found.
News of the positive test prompted mockery from conservative commentators already outraged at the kid-gloves treatment the first son has received from much of the media.
“The story about a bag of cocaine found in the president’s library is about a fathers [sic] love for his son,” tweeted Spectator contributing editor Stephen L. Miller.
“357 Former Intelligence Chiefs Sign Open Letter Blaming Russians for Cocaine in White House Library,” snarked Wall Street Journal film critic Kyle Smith, referencing the “Spies Who Lie” letter used to suppress reporting on the first son.
“C’mon Hunter would never lose track of an important personal item,” Smith added in another tweet.
Some users posted memes depicting the Biden scion as Al Pacino’s Tony Montana character from the movie “Scarface” while others modified the game of Clue to place “Hunter Biden, with the 8 Ball, in the Library.”
While the Secret Service and other law enforcement entities are often called to investigate suspicious packages on the perimeter of the White House complex, it’s far rarer for the building to be cleared, either due to potentially hazardous materials or other incidents.
In September 2020, letters containing ricin, a lethal substance, were mailed to the Trump White House but were intercepted by investigators before reaching the residence.
In 2017, an intruder hopped the White House fence while carrying a backpack and made it to within feet of the residence before he was apprehended. The Secret Service said he was not armed and the backpack contained no hazardous materials.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the Secret Service ordered staffers to evacuate the White House after receiving a report that one of the four hijacked planes was bound for Washington. In the wake of those attacks, anthrax scares led to the evacuation of the offices of US senators and the Supreme Court.
A separate ricin-laced letter was sent to the White House in 2003, but was also intercepted without incident.
On a less serious note, the executive mansion underwent a deep clean on the day of Biden’s inauguration in deference to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Rumors circulated in April that Hunter Biden may have been crashing at the White House for a time to avoid being served with court papers by the mother of his love child.
In his memoir “Beautiful Things,” Hunter detailed his years-long battle with cocaine addiction, which he said intensified after the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015.
Many photos, text messages and other communications revealing his cocaine abuse ended up on the first son’s now-infamous laptop, including recently surfaced images of Hunter smoking crack behind the wheel of his car in a residential Arlington, Va., neighborhood in the summer of 2018.
Last month, the first son reached a probation-only plea deal with the Justice Department for tax misdemeanors and entered into a pretrial diversion agreement for lying on a federal gun purchase form about his drug use.
If a judge approves, Hunter Biden will likely serve two years of probation and be barred from owning a firearm again. He also must remain sober.
