The Secret Service will not be releasing more information about the cocaine that was found at the White House a little more than one week ago.
This week, Jason Leopold, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg Business, said that he was informed by the Secret Service that they wouldn’t be complying with his Freedom of Information Act request he filed to get more information about the cocaine they found.
Leopold said the reason they gave him was that disclosing the information that he requested potentially could interfere with proceedings.
Leopold tweeted a photo of the letter that the Department of Homeland Security sent him, which was dated July 11. In addition he added the note:
“NEW: In response to my #FOIA request, Secret Service says it cannot release any records about the cocaine found in the White House because it would interfere [with] enforcement proceedings.”
While the Secret Service may not have wanted the public at large to hear the reasoning behind their denial – or the fact that they were denying Leopold’s request at all – anyone can now read it on Twitter.
The letter Leopold shared reads:
“This is the final response to your recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, received by the United States Secret Service (Secret Service) on July 10, 2023, for information pertaining to emails, text messages, photographs, memos, letters, directives, and intelligence bulletins and threat assessments, after action reports, suspicious activity reporting, open-source intelligence/social media monitoring reports, referencing the cocaine found in the West Wing of the White House.
“We regret to inform you that we cannot comply.”
It continued that the reasoning was the “foreseeable harm” standard that exists, further stating that the information Leopold requested “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
The letter did point out that Leopold could appeal the decision that the Secret Service made about the FOIA request within the next 90 days.
This certainly doesn’t quell any of the concerns or questions that many people have about the cocaine that was found in the West Wing. Many members of the media, the public and even lawmakers in Washington are concerned about the drugs that were found, how they got there and who brought them there.
Some people have said that it would be next to impossible for people outside of President Joe Biden’s family – or any government officials close to him – to be the one who brought the cocaine into the West Wing.
Dan Bongino, who served as an agent with the Secret Service from 1999 through 2011, is one of those people who believe that someone close to the president was the one who brought the drugs into the White House.
In a tweet he sent not long after the cocaine was found, Bongino, who is now a popular radio talk show host, wrote:
“There’s absolutely ZERO chance anyone other than a family member brought that cocaine inside the White House complex. No chance that would make it past the mag/security checkpoints. Family bypasses those.”
