Kimberly Cheatle, the former director of the Secret Service, and others wanted to destroy the cocaine discovered in the White House last year, RealClearPolitics reported.
The Secret Service Forensics Services Division and the Uniformed Division rejected her request, the outlet reported, citing three sources in the Secret Service community.
The bag of cocaine was found at the White House by a Secret Services Uniformed Divisions officer while President Joe Biden and his family were at Camp David.
Cheatle was concerned about the media firestorm that would ensue when the cocaine was discovered, particularly given past battles with drugs by Hunter Biden, the president's son. Hunter Biden has said he has been sober for several years and there was no evidence linking him to the cocaine.
Sources in the Secret Service community said typically, illegal drugs found in the White House, personal residences or other private areas would be thrown out, but it wasn't President Biden's detail that found the cocaine. A Uniformed Division officer assigned to protect the building spotted the drugs in a vestibule leading to the lobby area of the West Executive Avenue entrance to the White House, the Secret Service said in a statement last year.
The cocaine was eventually taken to an FBI lab and tested for a DNA analysis, which turned up a partial hit, meaning the DNA matched a blood relative of a finite group of people, RealClearPolitics reported.
Secret Service chose not to run additional searches for DNA matches or conduct interviews with people who work at the White House, RealClearPolitics said.
Cheatle later called the forensics team and asked it to destroy the bag because agency leaders wanted to close the case. Protocol is to maintain the evidence for seven years, a source told RealClearPolitics.
After the Uniformed Division refused, people within the Secret Service believe Cheatle passed over a man for a job as Uniformed Division chief as retaliation for refusing to dispose of the cocaine, according to RealClearPolitics.
Cheatle recently resigned after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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