Lab tests confirm substance found at White House was cocaine, Trump launches rant

Washington DC [US], July 6 : The last testing for a white-powdered substance, found at the White House on Sunday, has come back positive, a spokesman for the Secret Service told CNN.

Previous field testing revealed a positive result for cocaine, but the drug was submitted for additional investigation and testing, the Secret Service had said earlier.

On the other hand, former US President Donald Trump has launched a rant after the news of cocaine being found on the White House premises came to the fore.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday, "Does anybody really believe that the COCAINE found in the West Wing of the White House, very close to the Oval Office, is for the use of anyone other than Hunter & Joe Biden."

"But watch, the Fake News Media will soon start saying that the amount found was 'very small,' & it wasn't really COCAINE, but rather common ground up Aspirin, & the story will vanish. Has Deranged Jack Smith, the crazy, Trump hating Special Prosecutor, been seen in the area of the COCAINE? He looks like a crackhead to me!" he added.

According to a person acquainted with the situation, as cited by CNN, the substance was discovered near the ground floor entrance to the West Wing. Staff-led tours of the White House pass past this spot on their way into the building.

The substance was discovered near the area where visitors are instructed to deposit their mobile phones before entering the West Wing. These tours typically occur only on weekends.

Earlier, the CNN sources described the substance as a white powder found in a small, zipped bag.

During a Wednesday press briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House is confident that the Secret Service will "get to the bottom" of the incident. She confirmed that the cocaine was found in a "heavily travelled area" of the West Wing.

She also said that President Joe Biden was briefed about the situation and "everything we know so far," adding that the Secret Service was conducting an investigation.

"We have confidence that they will get to the bottom of this," she added.

The discovery of the substance on Sunday evening prompted a quick evacuation as part of the Secret Service's "precautionary closures."

Biden spent the weekend at Camp David before returning to the White House on Tuesday morning.

Officials have stated that they are investigating who brought cocaine into the building, CNN reported.