(trendingpoliticsnews) – The emergency response unit for the District of Columbia has denied a records request seeking information about its response to cocaine found in the White House last month.
The D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department on Friday announced it was withholding 19 pages of documents sought under a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by Jason Leopold, an investigative journalist who has closely followed the scandal since it broke over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Originally dubbed a hazardous material, the bag of white powder triggered an evacuation of the West Wing and brought emergency responders in to discover whether the substance was deadly.
“19 pages of responsive records found. All withheld in full,” wrote Leopold.
In its response letter, D.C. Fire and EMS stated that it was denying the FOIA request under two statutes ostensibly preventing the disclosure of “investigative techniques and procedures not generally known outside of the government.” The second statute cited, they said, prevented them from releasing the 19 pages because they contain a “specific vulnerability assessment” and preventing their release is “intended to prevent or to mitigate an act of terrorism.”
Questions have swirled about the discovery of cocaine, especially since Hunter Biden, who has struggled publicly with drug addiction, was at the White House just days before the drugs were found in a secure location accessible only by a select few. House Republicans were furious when the Secret Service announced at a private briefing that it would be closing its investigation without naming a suspect. Sources close to the White House security force have since said that the Secret Service knows who is responsible, but won’t admit it publicly.
Further attempts to discover who brought the cocaine into the White House may prove fruitless. Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN) said the Secret Service chose to “blow up” the bag of drugs rather than test it for fingerprints which might have been able to connect it with up to 500 people who circulated through that area of the West Wing earlier in the day.
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