The U.S. Secret Service did not interview any possible suspects over the cocaine discovered at the White House earlier this month, agency spokesman Anthony Gugliemi said.
The service chose not to interview the roughly 500 people who may be responsible for the cocaine because doing so could infringe on their civil liberties, Gugliemi claimed, adding the interviews would also put a strain on agency resources.
“Yes, you could have a consensual interview,” he noted. “But we have no evidence to approach them.”
The Secret Service abruptly ended its very short investigation into the cocaine less than two weeks after it was first discovered in the White House.
Agency officials reviewed visitor logs and surveillance footage involving hundreds of people who were in the West Wing around the time the cocaine was found, one source said, adding that investigators were unable to pinpoint the specific time or day the bag of cocaine was left in the executive mansion.
“On July 12, the Secret Service received the FBI’s laboratory results, which did not develop latent fingerprints and insufficient DNA was present for investigative comparisons. Therefore, the Secret Service is not able to compare evidence against the known pool of individuals. The FBl’s evaluation of the substance also confirmed that it was cocaine,” the service said in a press release.
The agency claimed there “was no surveillance video footage found that provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the found substance in this area.”
“Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered,” it continued. “At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence.”
“The U.S. Secret Service takes its mission to protect U.S. leaders, facilities, and events seriously and we are constantly adapting to meet the needs of the current and future security environment,” it concluded.
