(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Less than 24 hours after it was reported that fingerprints were found on the bag of cocaine left in the White House earlier this month, CNN said Thursday morning that the Secret Service is closing its investigation into the matter.
Citing two anonymous sources familiar with the investigation, CNN reported that Secret Service officials combed through visitor logs and surveillance footage of hundreds of individuals who entered the West Wing in the days preceding the discovery—but were unable to identify a suspect.
“Investigators were also unable to identify the particular moment or day when the baggie was left inside the West Wing cubby near the lower level entrance where it was discovered,” CNN reported.
“The second source said that the leading theory remains that it was left by one of the hundreds of visitors who entered the West Wing that weekend for tours and were asked to leave their phones inside those cubbies.”
CNN’s report runs directly contrary to a story published in Soldier of Fortune on Wednesday, which claims that law enforcement found fingerprints on the cocaine bag and identified who they belong to.
“We know who handled it,” one security source reportedly told the publication. “We’ve known since last week.”
Soldier of Fortune also said it knows the identity of the person suspected of handling the cocaine bag. But the outlet said it’s withholding the person’s name “pending confirmation.”
“The results came in quickly on the fingerprints because the sample was sent to a unit that gets results within 24 hours,” Soldier of Fortune reported, adding that it has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with three agencies that might know about the fingerprint results: the Washington DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia and the U.S. Secret Service.
The conflicting reports comes as a Secret Service representative is set to brief the House Oversight Committee on the matter today.
Other anonymous sources have reportedly said the cocaine culprit will likely never be apprehended.
“It’s gonna be very difficult for us to do that because of where it was,” an unnamed official told Politico.
“Even if there were surveillance cameras, unless you were waving it around, it may not have been caught [by cameras],” the source added. “It’s a bit of a thoroughfare. People walk by there all the time.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has said the White House is confident that the Secret Service would “get to the bottom of this.”
Jean-Pierre has also sought to dispel any notion that the cocaine belonged to known drug abuser Hunter Biden.
“The President and the First Lady and their family were not here this weekend,” she said in the wake of the discovery. “They left on Friday and returned yesterday,” she added. “Where this was discovered is a heavily travelled area … I just don’t have anything more to share.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
