After days of changing stories about the cocaine found in the White House, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) is now demanding some transparency on the issue from the Secret Service.
🚨The presence of illegal drugs in the White House is unacceptable and a shameful moment in the White House’s history.
Congress funds White House security procedures & @GOPoversight has oversight jurisdiction over Secret Service operations.
I’m requesting a briefing.👇 pic.twitter.com/5ORRhE7bey
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) July 7, 2023
He blasted the illicit discovery as a “shameful” moment for the White House in a letter to Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle, demanding a staff-level briefing on the matter by next week.
“This alarming development requires the Committee to assess White House security practices and determine whose failures led to an evacuation of the building and finding of the illegal substance,” Comer wrote, adding that his committee would need “additional information.”
“The presence of illegal drugs in the White House is unacceptable and a shameful moment in the White House’s history,” the top Republican wrote.
“This incident has raised additional concerns with the Committee regarding the level of security maintained at the White House. In order to assist the Committee with its investigation, please provide a staff level briefing on this matter by July 14, 2023.”
Congress has oversight over the Secret Service, so they have to comply and can’t duck his request. But we’ll have to see since the Biden administration has a history of not complying and turning over information, as we saw with the FBI FD-1023 bribery form where FBI Director Chris Wray delayed allowing Congress access to the form.
This cocaine find raises so many questions, not just about who brought it in and what the Biden team is trying to do by playing this lack of transparency game, but also about the basic security for the building. If someone can smuggle in white powder without being caught, that’s a big problem. What if it wasn’t just cocaine but something more dangerous? That could endanger the White House and everyone in it.
But the failure to be straight with the American people here is another shameful aspect of this incident. Why is the Biden team avoiding saying exactly where it was found? There’s no reason for hiding where it was found. Why did White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre avoid the specific question about the two different West Wing entrances, failing to note that it was found near the more secure one with a more limited number of people entering? That means it was less likely it was a tourist. Yet, she did all she could to try to pin it on a tourist. And when they can’t even deny straight up that it was Hunter or Joe’s when asked by reporters, there’s a problem.
If the Secret Service or the White House won’t be straightforward about the video and the security, then the Oversight Committee needs to subpoena whatever video the White House may have on the matter. Subpoena anything and everyone who should know anything about who goes through that entrance area. They’re not going to be able to keep this information under wraps and get away with this “we’re unlikely to know” answer the Biden team seems to be road testing with Comer breathing down their necks.