A white powdered substance found in the United States of America’s presidential residency and workplace, White House has tested positive for cocaine.
A powdery white substance that tested positive as cocaine in preliminary tests was found in the White House, sparking an investigation from the U.S. Secret Service, the agency said Tuesday.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, told Forbes that the white powder was found in the White House Sunday evening and that preliminary tests showed it was cocaine.
Guglielmi said the discovery prompted a brief evacuation–President Joe Biden was at Camp David and not in the White House at the time–and response from the Washington, D.C., Fire Department, which quickly determined the substance to be nonhazardous.
The Secret Service has launched an investigation into how it entered the White House, Guglielmi said.
The substance was discovered in a work area in the west wing by members of the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service conducting routine rounds through the building, the secret service told Forbes.
“You have got to be kidding me,” former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who served in President George W. Bush’s administration, wrote on Twitter following the discovery. “Cocaine was found at the WH and authorities aren’t saying exactly where it was found. If it’s the Old Executive Office Building, it’s likely staff. If it’s the mansion, it’s likely Hunter.”
