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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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The U.S. Secret Service is investigating after a white powder was reportedly found at the White House on Sunday.
The substance was discovered by members of the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service conducting routine rounds through the building, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, told Newsweek.
A source familiar with investigation told Newsweek that the substance was discovered inside of a "work area" of the West Wing.
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A preliminary field test indicated that the substance was cocaine, according to a dispatch from a fire crew that responded.
In audio footage, logged on a site called openmhz.com, a firefighter with the D.C. department's hazardous materials team can be heard calling in the results of a test.
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"We have a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride," the firefighter said.
The Post reported that the dispatch, timestamped at 8:49 p.m., was from the White House on Sunday night, citing an official familiar with the Secret Service's investigation.
Guglielmi told Newsweek that the discovery prompted a brief evacuation of the building, but the D.C. fire department quickly determined the substance did not present a threat.
"The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending," he said.
President Joe Biden was not in the White House at the time. He and first lady Jill Biden departed the White House on Friday to spend the Independence Day weekend at Camp David in Maryland with their family, including the president's son Hunter.
They were due to return to Washington D.C. on Tuesday morning, according to the president's public schedule.
The White House and the D.C. Fire Department have been contacted for comment via email.
The discovery prompted various reactions on social media.
"They never found cocaine in the Trump White House!" Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana wrote in a tweet.
In another tweet, the congressman wrote: "The Bidens are unfit to live in the White House!"
Others called for Biden to decriminalize drug possession.
"Cocaine was found at the White House. There's illegal narcotics in lots of mansions in America," the Fifty Shades of Whey Twitter account wrote. "It's time to end the classist War on Drugs. The US needs to decriminalize drug possession at the federal level and address addiction with mental health services."
Update 7/5/23, 4:35 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and comment.
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