Last Sunday, the White House was evacuated after what turned out to be cocaine was found. We now know it "was found in a cubby near the White House's West Executive entrance," according to NBC News, "not the formal West Wing lobby as was previously reported." That's "one floor below the main West Wing offices and the same floor as the Situation Room and a dining area." It's pretty serious business, though you wouldn't know that from how the White House is handling the situation. To The Hill, however, it brought about such a headline as "White House cocaine discovery becomes GOP 'political fodder.'"
The piece itself includes various remarks from sources, including unnamed ones, which is where the headline comes from. It's also problematic on its own, though, especially when it focuses on "media chatter" and "[c]onservative media" in particular:
Meanwhile, media chatter about the discovery is overshadowing what the White House wishes the focus could be on instead: glimmers of hope in the economy, NATO and other domestic and foreign issues it sees as far more pressing.
...
Conservative media, however, opted to associate the cocaine found to the president’s son Hunter Biden, who has had a history of drug use, despite there being no such links and the fact that neither Hunter nor Joe Biden were at the White House that day.
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Conservative media has used Hunter Biden’s frequent appearances at high-profile events at the White House as well as his traveling with the president as part of the argument for why the cocaine may have belonged to him. Biden allies say that connection was inevitable no matter the circumstances.
The article is also less than forthcoming on how incompetent the administration has been on this matter. "Administration officials have been fielding uncomfortable questions this week about how cocaine got into the White House amid a Secret Service investigation into the matter," it writes early on.
The administration isn't fielding anything, though. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is also mentioned by name as another one who was "fielding question after question about the discovery," has been especially unhelpful. In addition to her non-answers that she's prone to, Jean-Pierre offered "we're not assisting in anything."
Reporter on cocaine being found in the West Wing: "Can you just tell us how the White House is assisting the Secret Service with this investigation?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 5, 2023
Karine Jean-Pierre: "Look, we're not assisting in anything..." pic.twitter.com/Y1PCUCcZe6
Comments from Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates are also mentioned, in response to reaction from former and potentially future President Donald Trump:
When asked about Trump’s comments, the White House hammered into the president’s top political rival.
“I have noticed there does seem to be some increasing frustration coming from that corner in general and I think it is probably rooted in the contrast between their substantive policy efforts,” said White House spokesman Andrew Bates. “There is a long list of areas where this administration succeeded for the middle class where our predecessor did not.”
Bates then tried to bring the conversation back to what the White House wants to focus on, namely their “Bidenomics” agenda that they have pushed out for the last two weeks.
The questions came as the president was headed to South Carolina for a speech on the economy and his investments in clean energy. On Wednesday, the president met with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at the White House in a show of support for Sweden joining NATO by the deadline of the summit next week.
But, the news cycle stayed hooked on the cocaine story.
The White House has stressed that they are taking the investigation seriously but that it is in the hands of the Secret Service. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about whether dealing with the discovery of cocaine is distracting from other topics.
“I respect there’s interest in this,” Bates told reporters Thursday.
What's not mentioned is Bates' claim to a reporter that one of the reasons he couldn't talk more about if "the White House commit to transparency" is because he's "just not going to engage on hypotheticals." He also tried to hide behind the Hatch Act, which Katie aptly referred to as "a completely ridiculous assertion" in her coverage.
On claims "the cocaine found in the White House had belonged to either the president or his son. Are you willing to say that that's not the case?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 6, 2023
Mid-level Biden staffer Andrew Bates: "I don't have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act" pic.twitter.com/zuM30v5Fli
When it comes to the headline, a "source close to the administration" is quoted as saying the White House is actually handling the situation "very well," and that "it's all political fodder right now, political bull s***." The source further condemned critics. "I think it’s comical," the person said about a situation that's actually not comical at all. "Of course, you’re going to do what you need to do. Any time the opposition has a way to lean in and provide some type of antidote or response that’s going to get people wired up--they’re going to do so," the source added, though it's no made clear how this person thinks the administration is handling it well.
Another source, "a Democratic strategist and aide in a previous administration," framed reaction as coming from "the conservative social media world."
"I’m not sure there’s anything anybody could say who would prevent the conservative social media world from being whipped into this frenzy. No facts matter to them so what does one say," the source said. "Regardless of what the investigation shows at the end of the day, there are those who come from that world who will say something is being covered up."
Except it's entirely possible that something is, in fact, being covered up. And the White House isn't exactly doing much to dispel such concerns.
Others who are included in the article for standing by the administration are mentioned by name:
Amid the public focus on the cocaine situation, Biden allies argue that the White House is doing the right thing by letting the Secret Service handle it.
“Every president has faced a host of embarrassing events for which they’ve had no control. This just happens to be one such event,” said former Rep. Chris Carney (D-Pa.).
Carney, a senior policy adviser at Nossaman LLP, added that it’s the best move for the White House “to let the Secret Service do an unfettered investigation, make a report, and take any measures deemed necessary.”
With regards to former Rep. Carney's response for the White House to "take any measures deemed necessary," that may actually be too much to ask.
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