Many Americans woke up yesterday to the surprising report that a press pool document indicates the first family was in residence when a small bag of cocaine was found in the West Wing of the White House on Sunday, July 2. This news comes after vociferous denials were made by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who took umbrage at a reporter’s questions about the whereabouts of the first family when the Secret Service reported the illegal drug had been discovered.
Fox News exclusively reported that the June 30 press pool report said that “Biden gave remarks in the Roosevelt Room that afternoon, and didn’t depart the White House for Camp David until 6:34 p.m., along with First Lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden, and Hunter’s son Beau Biden.”
Uh-oh.
For days the legacy press has been publishing the official White House narrative and ridiculing those who questioned the whereabouts of Hunter Biden when the coke was found. The connection is obvious since the president’s son wrote about his struggle with drug addiction in an autobiographical book titled, Beautiful Things: A Memoir.
White House Cocaine – A Game of Clue
Conservatives couldn’t resist having a bit of fun at Hunter’s expense with clever memes made to look like a game of Clue. In a lengthy whodunit article, the New York Intelligencer speculated that the white powder could have belonged to members of the Secret Service. “The Secret Service likes to party …” but admitted that “[H]istorically, the agency’s vice has been booze, so this would be out of character.” Then under the heading “A prodigal son?” the Intelligencer concluded:
“One should give Hunter Biden the benefit of the doubt here. By all accounts, he has stuck with sobriety over the last four years despite the glaring national spotlight on his past behavior. But a younger version of Hunter was very much the type to think he could get away with such a move — and then totally not get away with it. There is one element working in his favor: He was at Camp David over the weekend, only arriving at the White House on Tuesday for fireworks with his dad.”
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Now that also appears to be untrue. When questioned about the first family’s whereabouts on Friday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded in a haughty, dismissive tone: “They were not here Friday. They were not here Saturday. They were not here Sunday. They were not even here Monday. They came back on Tuesday. So to ask that question is actually incredibly irresponsible. And I’ll just leave it there.”
Multiple media accounts have the first family leaving the White House and boarding Marine One on Friday evening, attesting to the accuracy of the press pool document. In addition, much has been made about the location of coke being found in a high tourist traffic area. This begs the question: Where are the surveillance videotapes?
Compared to other presidential residences worldwide, the White House is relatively diminutive. Most accounts maintain the six-story building measures 55,000 square feet of floor space. It’s logical to expect the highly trafficked areas – where select public members are permitted – to be closely monitored. So why would news reports say it’s unlikely the culprit would ever be found?
As one would expect, Twitter ran wild with the story. A six-second video clip of Hunter Biden wiping his nose on what appears to be the Truman Balcony was posted by Co-founder of Trending Politics Collin Rugg. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) called for drug testing, and The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway tweeted: “The White House That Tracked Down Grannies After Capitol Riot Wants You To Believe Cocaine Caper Has Them Stumped.” Fox’s Sean Hannity posted, “PLACE YOUR BETS;” many are doing just that. As of Saturday morning, July 8, BetOnline’s odds have Hunter Biden at minus 525 – a clear favorite as the owner of the White House cocaine.
American writer Terry Goodkind is credited with saying, “Reality is irrelevant; perception is everything.” But in this case, the reality is relevant, though it appears to be a challenge to pin down who brought it to the president’s house. Perhaps as the iconic song written by Bob Dylan goes, “The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.”
