Secret Service is CLOSING White House cocaine investigation WITHOUT finding any suspects

The Secret Service is closing the investigation into the White House cocaine discovery because of a ‘lack of evidence’ in a stunning move just 11 days after the drugs were abandoned in a West Wing locker.

Furious Republicans have called the shuttering of the probe ‘ridiculous’ and accused the Biden administration of a ‘cover-up,’ with agents unable to find a suspect despite poring over surveillance footage for more than a week.

GOP Rep. Tim Burchett said agents ‘just decided it’s just some weekend visitor’ and chalked up the entire investigation as ‘another coverup’ by the Biden White House.

‘It’s bogus’ the Tennessee congressman added. ‘That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.’

His comments came after the Secret Service briefed members of Congress, 11 days after the cocaine discovery forced evacuation and a hazmat situation at the White House.

The list of suspects was narrowed down to 500. Democrats said drug testing all of the potential culprits would violate their ‘civil liberties’ and insisted the cocaine was found in an area used by guests, not members of the Biden family or those with security clearances.

Since July 2 the Secret Service had been poring over surveillance footage from cameras stationed all over the White House, but still hasn’t managed to find a culprit.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has avoided the latest White House scandal by escaping to Europe for meetings with foreign leaders.

Furious Republicans said the Secret Service is closing the White House cocaine investigation without any suspects – and a narrowed-down list of 500 people who could be responsible

GOP Rep. Tim Burchett said agents ‘just decided it’s just some weekend visitor… That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in my life’

There were no fingerprints or other DNA found on the container holding the cocaine, according to the Secret Service. And there was less than a gram of the illicit drug in the ‘dime-sized’ zipper-lock baggie.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that the Secret Service officials informed lawmakers during Thursday’s briefing that they narrowed down the list of suspected culprits to about 500 people.

‘Have they drug tested this list of 500 potential suspects that brought an illegal substance – the drug cocaine – into the White House,’ Greene told reporters after the briefing. ‘Their answer was no, and that they’re unwilling to do so.’

Without any direct answers from the USSS or the Biden administration on the cocaine discovery with nearly two weeks to investigate the matter, members of Congress demanded briefings.

Trump-era CBP Director and longtime FBI agent Mark Morgan told DailyMail.com last week that the case is ‘straightforward’ and could be solved in the matter of 30 minutes.

Morgan and Rep. Burchett separately noted that there are cameras everywhere with facial recognition technology that could provide answers to who brought the cocaine into the White House.

It’s unlikely Republican members of Congress will be happy with USSS closing the investigation without finding out who is responsible for bringing the illicit drug into the West Wing.

‘Just left the most ridiculous meeting of all time with the Secret Service on the cocaine that was found in the White House,’ Rep. Burchett said in a video he recorded walking through Congress after Thursday’s briefing.

‘It turns out – they don’t know who did it,’ he said. ‘The investigation is going to be over at the end of the week, and they’re not going to find out who did it. And that’s basically it.’

‘Another coverup,’ the lawmaker added. ‘You know, it’s the most secure building in the entire world… Nobody, not even the press, goes in there without them knowing.’

He called the outcome a ‘bad look on the Secret Service and a horrible look on this White House.’

The White House continues to dodge questions related to the incident and investigation – and the location of the discovery has changed three times in the course of one week

READ THE FULL SECRET SERVICE STATEMENT ON CLOSING WHITE HOUSE COCAINE INVESTIGATION WITH NO SUSPECT

On the evening of July 2, officers from the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division found an unknown substance inside a vestibule leading to the lobby area of the West Executive Avenue entrance to the White House.

The substance was located inside a receptacle used to temporarily store electronic and personal devices prior to entering the West Wing.

Following the discovery, safety closures were implemented around the White House. This response was designed to ensure that the found substance was not a chemical or radiological material that threatened the security of the White House. As such, the substance was field tested and preliminarily determined to not be a hazardous compound.

Testing conducted by the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department indicated that the found powder tested preliminarily positive for the presence of cocaine. The substance and packaging were treated as evidence and sent to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, which analyzed the item for any biothreats. Tests conducted at this facility came back negative and gave formal confirmation that the substance was not biological in nature.

The substance and packaging underwent further forensic testing. The substance was analyzed for its chemical composition. The packaging was subjected to advanced fingerprint and DNA analysis. Both of these analyses were conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s crime laboratory given their expertise in this area and independence from the investigation.

While awaiting the FBl’s results, the Secret Service investigation into how this item entered the White House continued. The investigation included a methodical review of security systems and protocols. This review included a backwards examination that spanned several days prior to the discovery of the substance and developed an index of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the substance was found. The focal point of these actions developed a pool of known persons for comparison of forensic evidence gleaned from the FBI’s analysis of the substance’s packaging.

On July 12, the Secret Service received the FBI’s laboratory results, which did not develop latent fingerprints and insufficient DNA was present for investigative comparisons. Therefore, the Secret Service is not able to compare evidence against the known pool of individuals. The FBl’s evaluation of the substance also confirmed that it was cocaine.

There was no surveillance video footage found that provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the found substance in this area. 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. At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence.

The U.S. Secret Service takes its mission to protect U.S. leaders, facilities, and events seriously and we are constantly adapting to meet the needs of the current and future security environment.

President Joe Biden has been able to avoid facing the latest White House scandal as he escaped Washington, D.C. for meetings across Europe this week

The substance was found Sunday, July 2, leading to a hazmat evacuation of the White House while President Joe Biden and his family were in Camp David for the long holiday weekend.

Now, 11 days after the discovery, Congress is no closer to knowing how the drug made it into one of the most secure places in the U.S. – and USSS doesn’t plan to provide any definitive answers.

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair James Comer wrote to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle last week requesting a briefing by July 14, which occurred Thursday morning.

USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle (pictured) received at least two requests last week from lawmakers requesting a briefing on the White House cocaine incident

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas also called for a briefing and pressed Cheatle for information in a public letter. The senator’s office, when reached by DailyMail.com, said that they have not yet received a response from Cheatle.

The cocaine discovery location changed three times since its discovery – first in the library, then in a west wing work area and finally in a cell phone lockbox.

For the 11 days from discovery to briefing, there were no signs from officials of who the culprit is that brought the illicit drug onto the premises and the Biden administration continued to brush-off questions on the matter.

Biden critics, however, jumped to their own conclusion, claiming that the president’s recovering addict son Hunter, 52, is to blame for bringing cocaine into the White House.

Secret Service and administration officials remained hush-hush on details of the discovery – only fueling trolls who want to peg the incident on Hunter Biden.

A full statement from the USSS was released Thursday following the briefing that gave a detailed rundown of what the agency did to investigate the matter.

But it concluded by saying it would close the investigation without finding who brought the cocaine into the White House.

‘There was no surveillance video footage found that provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the found substance in this area,’ the statement claims.

‘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 statement concluded with: ‘At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence.’

Republicans and other critics are likely to call BS on this.

Several former officials familiar with the spot where the cocaine was found say that there are cameras, guest book logs and security at all times in the West Wing where the cocaine was left.

The evidence, Morgan told DailyMail.com last week, would absolutely be available to identify the culprit in a priority case like this one.

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk