The Guardian reports the following
A preliminary field test on a white substance found in the White House has reportedly come up positive for cocaine, law enforcement authorities said, and the US Secret Service was investigating on Tuesday how it came to be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The presence of the substance – which has been sent out for further testing – came to light late on Monday when a firefighter with the Washington DC fire department’s hazardous materials team radioed: “We have a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride,” the Washington Post first reported.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Post that the discovery led to an elevated security alert and a brief evacuation of the executive mansion after it was found during a routine round of inspection.
Initial reports indicated the substance was discovered in a reference library. The Associated Press, citing two officials who were unauthorized to speak about the investigation, later on Tuesday reported that the white powder was found “in an area accessible to tour groups, not in any particular West Wing office”.
Guglielmi had told the Washington Post that there is “an investigation into the cause and manner” of how the substance entered the White House. At the time, Joe Biden was at Camp David. The US president and first lady Jill Biden returned from the presidential retreat in Maryland to the White House on Tuesday morning.
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