A law enforcement expert has detailed how he believes the investigation into discovering who may have brought cocaine into the White House this week will go.
CNN analyst John Miller, an author and former New York Police Department official, said that the search will be expansive and will involve “a wide range of possible suspects, including staffers or even journalists,” the Daily Wire reported.
Host Jake Tapper on Wednesday asked Miller to share his thoughts on how the white powder, which was verified in a lab to be cocaine, could have gotten into a guest lobby at the White House and to update viewers on what he’s heard thus far.
Asked whether he believes the Secret Service’s presumption that a tourist brought it in is correct, Miller told Tapper “no.”
“That’s a possibility because people who come through — the tours go through there,” Miller said. “But that area is … you’ve been through that entrance, I’ve been through that entrance … there’s the canopy right there, it comes in off the street, and then you go in there — there’s a bunch of cubbies where you put your phones if you’re going to one of those restricted areas where you can’t carry a phone — like the Situation Room or somewhere else — where people can put other belongings.”
He then explained that the culprit could be a White House staffer because the cocaine was found near that area, “right by where those cubbies are.” Miller noted the perp could also be “a member of the press who was there for a specific interview with someone on that side of the West Wing.”
Miller elaborated on several investigative measures undertaken, which encompassed reviewing surveillance footage, examining visitor logs, and dispatching the powder to Fort Detrick, a biosecurity laboratory operated by the U.S. Army in Maryland, the Daily Wire noted.
“What they’re going to do is look at the video,” Miller said. “What does the video tell you? Was it Friday? Was it Saturday? Was it there before and just unnoticed? They’ll look at the logs. Ok, who signed in? Who were they going to see?”
But there’s more than that,” he added. “The powder has been sent to Fort Detrick for a second round of testing to see — ok, it tested positive for cocaine. Is there anything else in it that could be hazardous or weaponized? The container it came in, which is about the size of a postage stamp, like a dime-bag ziplock, they’ll be looking to see if they can extract a print from that or DNA.”
He then concluded: “So they’re going to go through a lot of motions before they are at the stage where they’re going to need to interview people.”
“Previous field testing showed a positive result for cocaine, but the substance was sent for further evaluation and testing, the Secret Service had said previously. The substance was found near the ground floor entrance to the West Wing, the person said. The location is where staff-led tours of the White House pass through on their way into the building,” CNN reported this week.