Disgraced former Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle and top leadership wanted to destroy the cocaine discovered at the White House last summer, but was rejected by the agency’s forensics division, according to reports.
RealClearPolitics reported Monday that “multiple heated confrontations and disagreements over how best to handle the cocaine ensued” after a Secret Service Uniformed Division officer found the bag on July 2, 2023, according to three Secret Service sources.
EXCLUSIVE: Former Secret Service Chief Cheatle Wanted To DESTROY COCAINE EVIDENCE According to Three Sources in the Secret Service Community.
New details emerge about the unsolved cocaine mystery, a “partial DNA hit” and Secret Service leaders’ bungled efforts to make… pic.twitter.com/makZRk3X0t
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 5, 2024
The discovery of the cocaine led many to speculate that it belonged to Hunter Biden in part because he had a well-documented addiction to cocaine and visited the White House shortly before the cocaine was found in the “work area” of the West Wing.
That’s when the cover-up began, according to the sources.
From RCP:
At least one Uniformed Division officer was initially assigned to investigate the cocaine incident. But after he told his supervisors, including Cheatle and Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe, who was deputy director at the time, that he wanted to follow a certain crime-scene investigative protocol, he was taken off the case, according to a source within the Secret Service community familiar with the circumstances of his removal.
The report when on to explain how the discovery of the bag of cocaine “posed an unusual problem for Cheatle” because she had gotten close to the Biden family while serving in Joe’s protective detail and knew the incident “would spark a media firestorm.”
And unfortunately for her and the Biden White House, the incident could not be covered up because the discovery of the cocaine by a Secret Service forensics officer led to a precautionary evacuation of the premises that included members of the press.
Shortly after the investigation began, Cheatle contacted the Forensics Services Division asking for them to destroy the bag of cocaine because agency leaders wanted to close the case, but was denied.
It’s unclear exactly when Cheatle and other top officials tried to persuade the Forensics Services Division to destroy the evidence. At some point during the investigation, Matt White, the vault supervisor, received a call from Cheatle or someone speaking on her behalf asking him to destroy the bag of cocaine because agency leaders wanted to close the case, according to two sources in the Secret Service community.
“Protocol is, whether you act on the [DNA] hit or not, we still have to maintain evidence for a period of up to seven years,” a source told RCP. “It became a big to-do.”
White’s boss, Glenn Dennis, the head of the Forensics Services Division, then conferred with the Uniformed Division, which first discovered the cocaine.
“A decision was made not to get rid of the evidence, and it really pissed off Cheatle,” a source in the Secret Service community said in an interview.
At that point, the cocaine was sent to the FBI’s crime lab for fingerprint and DNA analysis, and the sources claimed the Bureau ran the DNA material against national criminal databases and “got a partial hit.”
“The Congressional oversight committees need to put White under oath and confirm the ‘partial hit,’” a source told RCP. “Then the FBI needs to explain who the partial hit was against, then determine what blood family member has ties to the White House or what person matching the partial hit was present at the White House that weekend.”
“That’s because they didn’t want to know, or even narrow down the field of who it could be,” a source stated. “It could have been Hunter Biden, it could have been a staffer, it could have been someone doing a tour – we’ll never know.”
The sources also claimed the Secret Service, “under pressure from Cheatle and other top agency officials”, chose not to run additional DNA searches or conduct interviews with the hundreds of people who work in the White House.
Notably, the Secret Service had denied a FOIA request for names of the individuals who had access to where the cocaine was found in the White House.
ICYMI: the Secret Service DENIED a FOIA request by the Heritage Foundation to make public the list of people who had access to where the cocaine was found in the White House.
Tells you everything you need to know. pic.twitter.com/lAaEKKsitG
— Daniel Baldwin (@baldwin_daniel_) July 31, 2023
During the scandal, the White House refused to answer whether the cocaine came from a Biden family member and attacked reporters asking about it as “irresponsible.”
Less than two weeks after launching its probe, the Secret Service announced it closed the investigation into how cocaine ended up at the White House without identifying a suspect.
JUST IN: Secret Service issues formal statement announcing closure of White House cocaine investigation. pic.twitter.com/Li1fjQXOPk
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 13, 2023
“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.”
“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.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who’s been demanding answers on the cocaine controversy since the beginning, lambasted Cheatle in light of this report.
“We’re now learning that former Secret Service Director Cheatle was pushing to destroy the cocaine found in the White House without telling anybody. Cover up after cover up after cover up,” he wrote on X.
We’re now learning that former Secret Service Director Cheatle was pushing to destroy the cocaine found in the White House without telling anybody. Cover up after cover up after cover up.
— Rep. Tim Burchett (@RepTimBurchett) August 5, 2024
