In the midst of a busy few weeks on the news front, the resolution of an old story managed to slip out — and it raises new questions about former President Joe Biden, ex-Secret Service head Kimberly Cheatle, and how they handled one of the highest profile White House scandals.

Last Friday, a report from RealClearPolitics’ Susan Crabtree — who has been on the trail (or line, if you want to be punny) of the baggie of cocaine found in a White House locker in July 2023 — reported that the Secret Service acted to destroy the evidence the day after it closed the case and appears to have punished the official who Cheatle overruled when it came to destroying the narcotic substance.

In the Friday report, Crabtree said that she had discovered new documents regarding the rapidity with which the evidence was destroyed, which she said “are raising new questions about the scrupulousness of the investigation.”

“A U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency document titled ‘Destruction’ states that the bag of cocaine was sent to the Metropolitan Police Department for incineration,” Crabtree reported.

“That document, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, doesn’t display a date for the destruction. But other internal Secret Service records show that the cocaine was tested by the Secret Service, the D.C. Fire Department hazmat technicians, and the FBI before being sent back to the Secret Service for storage on July 12.

“Two days later, it was transferred to the D.C. police department for destruction. The Secret Service shut down the cocaine investigation 11 days after discovering it.”

Washington, D.C., police referred all questions about the cocaine’s destruction to the FBI.

It’s worth noting that while the Secret Service’s documents said that the Metropolitan Police Department was supposed to destroy the cocaine within 24 hours, there’s no actual record of the drug’s destruction. Nevertheless, one thing’s for certain: There was no attempt at a prolonged investigation or a desire to keep the evidence preserved for any official who might undertake one.

That’s somewhat important, considering FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced, he was taking another look at how the cocaine case was handled, along with other problematic cases the Biden administration left curiously unsolved.

Was this evidence destroyed to cover up a crime?

Yes: 100% (2936 Votes)

No: 0% (13 Votes)

“Well, I get a kick out of it on social media,” Bongino said.

“People say, ‘This case isn’t a big deal. I don’t care.’ Well, I care. … You don’t care that a [potentially] hazardous substance made its way into the White House? We didn’t know what it was, and we don’t seem to have answers? Well, we’re going to get them. I’ve got a great team on it.”

At the time that the cocaine was discovered in a locker in a vestibule used for VIP tours, the rumor was that Hunter Biden may have fallen off the wagon again and was back into the white stuff — something the White House and other officials went out of their way to assiduously put out of America’s collective mind even as they weren’t exactly working tirelessly at anything else regarding the cocaine investigation.

“During the feverish speculation in the days and weeks after the cocaine’s discovery, the White House refused to answer whether the cocaine came from a Biden family member and labeled as ‘irresponsible’ reporters who asked about a possible link to Hunter or another Biden family member,” Crabtree noted.

“It’s unclear exactly when Cheatle and other top officials tried to persuade the Forensics Services Division to destroy the evidence. At some point during the brief investigation, Matt White, the vault supervisor, received a call from Cheatle or someone speaking on her behalf asking him to destroy the bag of cocaine because agency leaders wanted to close the case, according to two sources in the Secret Service community.”

This seems odd since, as Crabtree noted, “Secret Service surveillance video clearly shows all the White House staff and other individuals who entered through the West Wing entrance.

“The Secret Service, wrote, never interviewed that group of individuals, citing the FBI’s alleged inability to find sufficient DNA evidence to link the cocaine to anyone,” Crabtree said.

Furthermore, Cheatle not only seems to have overruled an official who wanted to preserve the evidence, Richard Macauley — then the acting chief of the Secret Service’s Uniformed Division — but she punished him in terms of career progression, as well.

“Despite Cheatle’s push to hire and promote minority men and women, Macauley was passed over for the job of Uniformed Division chief in what some in the agency suspected was an act of retaliation for supporting those who refused to dispose of the cocaine. Cheatle brought in Mike Buck, an agent who was in retirement, to serve in the top U.D. role instead of Macauley,” Crabtree noted.

“After Trump chose Sean Curran to lead the agency, however, Buck left, and Curran tapped Macauley to replace him.”

Crabtree had previously reported that a source told her the “decision was made not to get rid of the evidence, and it really p***ed off Cheatle.”

Almost exactly a year later, Cheatle would effectively be forced out of the agency in the aftermath of the July 13 Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt against then-candidate and former President Donald Trump.

During the fallout, Cheatle was seen by many as the face of DEI culture inside the Biden White House; it became a matter of grim humor to note that she’d gone from the senior director of global security at PepsiCo to her current gig, which led to accusations that she’d gone from “guarding Doritos” to guarding presidents and presidential candidates.

However, more problematically for her in 2025, former first lady Jill Biden is said to have pushed for Cheatle to get the position. With the revelations regarding just how much of a role “Dr.” Jill played in the 46th presidency during the declining mental and physical health of her husband, Cheatle’s quick destruction of the cocaine — as well as punishing those who seemed to think the evidence should be preserved — will likely incur additional scrutiny.

Whatever the case, the question practically asks itself: How is this not a cover-up?

Contributor, Commentary

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).

Birthplace

Morristown, New Jersey

Education

Catholic University of America

Languages Spoken

English, Spanish

Topics of Expertise

American Politics, World Politics, Culture

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