Cocaine mystery at White House remains unsolved as Biden leaves office

President Biden will end his term next month leaving behind one of the biggest White House whodunits of all time as the public and politicos still wonder who brought cocaine into the most secure building in the world.

Roughly 17 months after cocaine was discovered in a storage box near an entrance to the West Wing, the culprit remains a head-scratcher. And with the Secret Service closing the investigation in July 2023 after 11 days without interviewing a single suspect, security experts say it’s unlikely a culprit will ever be identified. 

“I don’t think that we are ever going to hear anything about the cocaine ever again, unfortunately,” said Robert McDonald, a former supervisory Secret Service agent who worked in the presidential protection division. “It’s a sad state of affairs that the Secret Service chose to close the investigation as quickly as it did, and it’s a sad state of affairs that the administration did nothing to assist the investigation.”

Mr. McDonald, who now teaches at the University of New Haven, described the incident as “the perfect crime” because the Secret Service said there was no DNA or fingerprints on the packet and video evidence was insufficient.  

Many questions remain unanswered.

• Why did the Secret Service close the investigation without a single interview?

• Why did the Secret Service “dispose” of the cocaine immediately after concluding the brief investigation? 

• If someone could bring cocaine within feet of the president, what about other, more dangerous, powdery substances such as anthrax or fentanyl?

• Why did the White House in 2021 fire five staffers who failed a test for marijuana, which is legal in many states, yet seem disinterested in this case? 

“At this point, it should be about lessons learned to make sure this never happens again,” said Eric Caron, a former Department of Homeland Security special agent and international security consultant.

On July 2, 2023, a bag of cocaine was found inside a cubby near an entrance to the West Wing that is commonly used to give tours and where visitors are instructed to place their phones and other belongings. The cubby is located by the basement entrance to the West Wing, one floor below the Oval Office and just steps from the Situation Room.

A uniformed Secret Service officer discovered the substance but didn’t know what it was. That triggered a lockdown of the White House complex as security protocols were elevated, and the Washington Fire Department was called to evaluate the material, but it was deemed nonhazardous. 

Mr. Biden and his family had left the White House for Camp David when the cocaine was discovered but had been on campus earlier that day. 

Lab testing later revealed the substance was cocaine, prompting the Secret Service to declare it would do “everything possible” to identify the culprit.

The Biden administration immediately began stonewalling reporters’ questions. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that the cocaine was found in an area that was so heavily trafficked that identifying a suspect might be difficult. She declined to offer details about the probe or the White House response, repeatedly deferring to the Secret Service.

“Let’s let the Secret Service do their job, which we believe, and have all the confidence that they will get to the bottom of this episode,” she said at the time.

But the Secret Service never did. It ended the probe after 11 days, saying there was no physical evidence such as fingerprints or DNA, and no cameras were in position to capture the footage of the culprit.

“Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered,” the agency said in a statement. 

Mr. Caron said the lack of physical evidence never added up.

“Did they dust the box for fingerprints? The key that opened the box? There is so much the Secret Service could have done if they wanted to look at this like law enforcement agencies usually do, but they just stood down,” he said. 

House Republicans attended a briefing offered to lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee and said they were enraged by what they saw as a lack of curiosity by the Secret Service.

Rep. Tim Burchett, Tennessee Republican, called the conclusion “bogus” and the investigation a “complete failure.” Then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, called the probe a “farce.”

The outrage was reheated in August when the Secret Service revealed they disposed of the cocaine “in accordance with retention policies.” However, Secret Service protocols require that evidence be retained for seven years.

“This made the Secret Service look incompetent and there is no doubt in my mind they knew who brought this cocaine and dropped it in that box,” Mr. Caron said. “With the surveillance apparatus they have at the White House, they know who brought the cocaine.”

Guessing the culprit’s identity became somewhat of a parlor game in Washington and betting websites got in on the action.

Oddsmakers named Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden as the likely favorite in the mystery. Hunter Biden has a long history of drug abuse, including crack and cocaine use. Earlier this year, he was convicted of lying on a federal gun form by claiming he was not a drug user when he purchased a firearm, though he was pardoned of that crime by his father. 

Other names tossed around included NFL tight end Travis Kelce, who visited the White House a month before the cocaine was discovered and one of the Jonas Brothers, according to SportsBetting.ag, which gave odds on potential suspects.

As part of Hunter Biden’s sweeping pardon, Mr. Biden absolved his son of all crimes committed between January 2014 and December 2024. That means if the cocaine did belong to Hunter Biden, he could come forward and admit it without the fear of prosecution.

Experts say they don’t think the public will ever get the answers they deserve.

“We are so far along here that I’m not sure anyone has any interest,” said Mr. McDonald. “It was terrible and the optics are poor but the fact that this hasn’t happened again is going to allow this to collect dust.”