The ‘key’ to solving who brought cocaine into the White House may hinge on whether such an object is ever found.
While the biggest unsolved mystery about the cocaine is who got the baggie through security and ditched under a gram of drugs in locker No. 50 – another outstanding question is what happened to the locker’s key.
The key, according to Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, was ‘reported lost’ after the cocaine was discovered in the locker on July 2, sparking a weeks long scandal over the summer.
Interest in cocaine-gate was renewed earlier this month when DailyMail.com was the first to publish images of the White House drugs.
Secret Service documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request also shed light on what evidence possibly still exists, when the bag of cocaine itself was destroyed a day after the 11-day investigation was closed.
The key to locker No. 50, where the cocaine was found, was ‘reported lost,’ a Secret Service spokesperson told DailyMail.com
DailyMail.com was the first news organization to publish pictures of the bag of cocaine found in locker No. 50 of the White House on July 2
Locker users put their items in the lockers and then take the keys. The key for Locker No. 50, however, was ‘reported lost’ after the July 2 cocaine discovery
Buried in the 112 pages of documents the Secret Service turned over is a reference to an ‘Item #2,’ which is described as ‘DNA secondary evidence from Item #1,’ with Item #1 being the bag of cocaine itself.
In a document marked ‘Certified Inventory of Evidence’ Item #2 is described as an ‘envelope containing (3) tubes.’
An expert DailyMail.com spoke with said those tubes likely contained the swabs or a cutting that was used to conduct the drug and DNA tests, however Guglielmi couldn’t say that for sure.
A chain of custody log said that as of July 28 Item #2 ‘remained secured.’
The bag of cocaine was sent for destruction on July 14, one day after the investigation closed.
An additional unanswered question is whether that secondary piece of evidence still remains.
‘I don’t know exactly what was in the tubes but in terms of destruction, there is a retention schedule that must be followed and thetimeto keep evidence depends on the type of evidence it is and the disposition status of the case,’ Guglielmi told DailyMail.com.
A secondary piece of evidence may remain in storage with the Secret Service. It was identified on a different document as an envelope containing three tubes, which likely contain the swabs used when investigators were testing the drugs and bag
This document notes that the second piece of evidence – which may still be in Secret Service custody – was an envelope containing three tubes
This document, which was part of the DailyMail.com’s FOIA request, says that the second item of ‘DNA evidence’ ‘remained secured’ as of July 18
When asked if the timeline for evidence destruction was publicly available Guglielmi responded, ‘That case file that you have is all the publicly available information.’
More broadly, the name of the individual who discovered the cocaine and the names of other law enforcement officials who worked on the case were redacted, making it difficult to pinpoint sources who could speak about what happened.
The list of suspects was narrowed down to 500 – due in part to there not being cameras that directly capture the lockers.
Additionally, lockers aren’t assigned to specific personnel, but instead guests can choose a locker to use and then take a numbered key.
It’s also unclear if any interviews were ever conducted – and if not, why those did not occur.
Staff not already working in the West Wing and guests taking tours use the lockers, which is why the suspect pool was so big.
A former Trump administration official thought the culprit was likely staff because ‘security is slightly laxer.’
However a more current White House source believed that someone taking a tour was the likeliest culprit because anyone with any familiarity of the White House would know that there’s a bathroom steps away – where the contraband could have been flushed.
In the days following the discovery, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan aired out another theory – that a construction worker could have brought in the cocaine, as it was found near the Situation Room, which was undergoing renovations at the time.
‘I would make a point about the Situation Room because I think there’s been a lot questionable reporting on this,’ Sullivan said at a July 7 briefing. ‘The Situation Room is not in use and has not been in use for months because it is currently under construction.’
‘We are using an alternative Situation Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, so the only people coming in and going out of the Sit Room in this period have been workers who are getting it ready to go,’ he added.