Secret Service investigating after cocaine found in White House

(Image credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The Secret Service is investigating how a suspicious white powder later confirmed to be cocaine ended up in the White House on Sunday, "near where visitors taking tours of the West Wing are instructed to leave their cellphones," The Washington Post reported.

Secret Service agents were doing routine rounds when they discovered the powder in an "area accessible to tour groups, not in any particular West Wing office," according to NPR. The White House was then briefly evacuated.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Both a preliminary and final test of the powder indicated it was cocaine, per the Post. "The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending," said Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.