Global Courant
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House was briefly evacuated Sunday night while President Joe Biden was at Camp David after the Secret Service discovered suspicious powder in a West Wing common area, and a preliminary test showed the substance was cocaine, two law enforcement agencies, officials said on Tuesday.
Secret Service agents were making routine rounds on Sunday when they found the white powder in an area accessible to tour groups, not in any particular office in the West Wing, officials said. The officials were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The complex was evacuated around 8:45 p.m. on Sunday as fire and emergency services were called in to conduct a rapid test, tentatively identifying cocaine. The White House was soon reopened and the powder was sent for further investigation.
Biden and his family left for Camp David on Friday and returned to the White House on Tuesday.
The Secret Service said in a statement that the White House was closed as a precaution during the emergency services investigation and that the District of Columbia Fire Department was called in to assess and determine that the substance was not hazardous.
“The item has been sent for further evaluation and an investigation into its cause and manner of entering the White House is pending,” the Secret Service said.
