- A white powder was found inside the White House late Sunday, which led to a temporary closure.
- Firefighters identified the material as “cocaine hydrochloride,” the Washington Post reported.
- The Secret Service told Reuters an “unknown” item was indeed found there.
The Secret Service told Reuters an “unknown” substance was found in the White House over the weekend, and firefighters later confirmed to The Washington Post that it was cocaine.
The discovery, which was reportedly made while President Joe Biden was at Camp David, led to the temporary evacuation of parts of the complex.
“On Sunday evening, the White House complex went into a precautionary closure as officers from the Secret Service Uniformed Division investigated an unknown item found inside a work area,” a spokesperson for the Secret Service said, per Reuters.
The material was found in the West Wing, the spokesperson added, which is a part of the White House connected to the executive mansion, where the president lives.
According to the Washington Post, a Washington DC firefighter on the hazardous materials team said the test results for the substance showed “a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride.”
The discovery came little more than a week after some of the most influential players in tech and business — including CEOs from Apple and Google — descended on the White House for a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The guest list included Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, designer Ralph Lauren, and one of Rupert Murdoch’s sons, among others.