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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Kelly Rissman

Ex-Secret Service agent says she’s ‘not surprised’ by White House cocaine scandal

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A day after the Secret Service reached an end to its investigation into the presence of cocaine in the White House, former Secret Service agent Evy Poumpouras said she wasn’t shocked that the drug was able to get into the White House.

Ms Poumpouras told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: “I’m not surprised because when we did the White House tours — and I was especially on the East Wing side — we would have people who would put in for tours and … because we would do a criminal check on people, and there were times, Kaitlan, that people would hit, they would be warrants out for their arrests. And so we would know John Doe is coming in for a tour, he’s got a warrant in for his arrest.”

Then, she continued, the agency would call the area looking for the person and help with arrests. She added that staff and tours walked through the same entrance. She suggested there be a change, so that there are separate ways for tours versus staff.

“I never thought the tours were a good idea,” Ms Poumpouras said. “It’s the White House, it’s the West Wing. I feel like an area like that should not be open to such a degree.”

A bag of cocaine was in the White House lobby found by Secret Service agents during a routine sweep on 2 July, and concluded its investigation on Thursday. No fingerprints or DNA were found on the baggie of cocaine, the agency announced.

“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,” Secret Service officials said in a summary obtained by the Associated Press.

Before the investigation ended, former President Donald Trump joined accusations that the cocaine belonged to President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter: “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 wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

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