Graham says ‘somebody needs to be fired’ over White House cocaine

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that “somebody needs to be fired” after the U.S. Secret Service announced it would end its investigation into the cocaine discovered at the White House earlier this month, without identifying any suspect. 

“Somebody needs to be fired because somebody allowed cocaine to get into the White House, and once it was there, we can’t prove who did it, is unnerving. But somebody needs to be fired for letting it happen,” Graham said on Fox News, responding to news that the U.S. Secret Service would end officially its investigation Friday.

“Here’s what this story is telling us: That somebody brought cocaine into the White House, and the Secret Service has no idea who did it. That’s not confidence inspiring. I appreciate the Secret Service. They’re brave men and women,” Graham said. “But can you imagine if this had happened on Trump’s watch? Somebody needs to look at the procedures protecting the White House from top to bottom.” 

On Thursday, the Secret Service informed lawmakers that it would end its investigation Friday into the cocaine discovered at the White House on July 2. The substance, which was confirmed to be cocaine days later, was found in a lobby area of the West Wing, off the West Executive Ave. entrance, where individuals are meant to leave their electronics and personal belongings before entering, the Secret Service told The Hill. 

The Secret Service said it was able to narrow down the list of suspects to approximately 500 people, but there was a lack of physical evidence available to narrow the list of people down more. The packaging of the cocaine was tested for fingerprints and DNA, but the FBI lab results, provided to the Secret Service Wednesday, included no prints or sufficient DNA. There was also no surveillance video footage that proved useful. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), emerging from a Secret Service briefing of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters that the list of suspects was classified but that it included “quite a mix of people.” 

The Secret Service confirmed its review “developed an index of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the substance was found” and “developed a pool of known persons for comparison of forensic evidence gleaned from the FBI’s analysis of the substance’s packaging.”

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), told reporters Thursday that the Secret Service informed lawmakers that they were unable to establish a clear timeframe of when the cocaine likely was left at the White House, saying, “It could have been that day, it could’ve been a week before, it could’ve been months before.”